STOPPING FORCED LABOUR

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL

STOPPING FORCEDLABOUR

Global Report

under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration

on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE89th Session 2001

Report I (B)

PINTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICEGENEVA

This Report may also be consulted on the ILO Internet site(http://www.ilo.org/declaration).

ISBN 92-2-111948-3ISSN 0074-6681

First published 2001

The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nationspractice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of anycountry, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers.Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply theirendorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm,commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval.

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v STOPPING FORCED LABOUR

Contents

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part I. Forced and compulsory labour:A dynamic global picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71. The evolving faces of forced labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92. Slavery and abductions: A continuing problem. . . . . 163. Compulsory participation in public works . . . . . . . . . 194. Forced labour in agriculture and remote rural areas:

Coercive recruitment practices 21Addressing forced labour in rural Brazil. . . . .. . . . 25

5. Domestic workers in forced labour situations . . . . . . 306. Bonded labour and its eradication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Defining bonded labour: Conceptual andpolicy concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 32The legal and institutional framework foreradicating bonded labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 33Estimating the numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 35Eradicating bonded labour: The practicalexperience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 37

7. An extreme case: Forced labour exacted bythe military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

8. Forced labour related to trafficking in persons:The underside of globalization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Trafficking and forced labour: Demographicand gender aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 49What are the causes of trafficking? . . . . . . . . .. . . . 53The response to trafficking: National measures . . . 56

9. Prison-linked forced labour: Contemporarydilemmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

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STOPPING FORCED LABOUR vi

Part II. ILO assistance towards the elimination offorced and compulsory labour: Experienceto date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672. International action against forced labour:

The context of ILO work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693. Forced labour and rural workers: Past experience

points to the future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734. ILO technical assistance and technical cooperation

in relation to the elimination of forced orcompulsory labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

5. Involvement of the social partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886. Assessing effectiveness: Concluding comments . . . . . 93

Part III. Towards an action plan against forcedlabour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951. The need for a concerted action plan . . . . . . . . . . . . 972. The scope of an ILO action plan against forced

labour: General considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983. Forced labour: A common global responsibility . . . . 994. Special issues for future action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Thematic research and analysis . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 101Forced labour and trafficking. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 102Addressing forced labour through ruraldevelopment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 103Labour inspection and law enforcement . . . .. . . . 104Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 104Putting the spotlight on domestic work . . . . .. . . . 105Reaching out to the vulnerable: Challengesfor the social partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 105A special programme against bonded labour.. . . . 105

5. Final remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Suggested points for discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Annexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111. ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles

and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. . . . . . . . . . . . 1132. Follow-up to the Declaration (flow diagram)

Encouraging efforts to respect fundamentalprinciples and rights at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

3. Table of ratifications of ILO Conventions Nos. 29and 105 and annual reports submitted under theDeclaration follow-up in relation to the eliminationof all forms of forced or compulsory labour. . . . . . . . 118

4. International instruments relevant to forcedlabour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

vii STOPPING FORCED LABOUR

Executive summary

Forced Labour is universally condemned. Yet the elimination of itsnumerous forms — old and new, ranging from slavery and debt bondage totrafficking in human beings — remains one of the most complex challengesfacing local communities, national governments, employers’ and workers’organizations and the international community. Tackling this denial of humanfreedom calls for multidimensional solutions to address the disparate forms thatforced labour takes.1

Stopping forced labour is the second Global Report issued under theInternational Labour Organization’s (ILO) new promotional tool, the follow-up to the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights atWork. The Report looks closely at the myriad forms of forced labour found inthe world today and the various responses to them, with the aim of mobilizinggreater support for their eradication. It closes by proposing a specificprogramme of action for discussion and approval by ILO constituents thatstrives for a holistic approach to eliminating this terrible practice.

Through an extensive survey of the available evidence, Part I of theReport examines the most prevalent forms of forced labour still in existencetoday. Worldwide attention to forced labour has increased in recent yearsthrough the international appeals to one country in particular (Myanmar) torectify that persistent problem. Trafficking of women and children — mainlyfor prostitution and domestic service but also sweatshop work — has alsoincreased dramatically throughout the world in the last ten years. In NorthAmerica, several high-profile cases in sweatshop industries have resulted insevere penalties and heightened public awareness. In addition, millions ofpeople live and work in conditions of debt bondage in many countriesthroughout South Asia and Central and South America.

Stopping forced labour reviews the history behind the ILO’s and the UnitedNations response to the problem of forced labour, starting in the 1920s. TheILO adopted the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), following workthat had been undertaken at the request of the League of Nations. The 1950ssaw renewed attention to other forms of forced labour, either for punishmentfor political views or as vestiges of agrarian feudalism widespread at the time.

1 As the Report explains, the term “forced labour” has a particular legal meaning, and should notbe confused with popular terminology sometimes used to describe poorly paid, dangerous or gen-erally exploitative work.

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STOPPING FORCED LABOUR viii

The United Nations responded in 1956 with a Convention aimed at abolishingslavery, and the ILO with its Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957(No. 105). While universally condemned in these and other instruments, thepractice nonetheless persists.

Within each category of forced labour identified, the Report providesinformation that sheds light on the disparate factors that bear on it. In severalcases, the ILO and other international organizations have succeeded in helpingreduce or eliminate the practice. The Report demonstrates that with acombination of political will and concerted efforts on the part of theinternational community, a range of ministries, the social partners and non-governmental organizations, forced labour can be abolished.

As the Report notes, slavery is still found in a handful of countries inAfrica. Forced labour in the form of coercive recruitment is present in manycountries of Latin America and in parts of the Caribbean, as well as elsewhere.Indigenous populations in particular suffer from this form of abuse. More in-depth examinations of situations in three countries of the region, used asexamples, reveal how ILO assistance combined with governmental and civilsociety initiatives can reduce the problem (Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti).The variant in Africa — involuntary community and village labour — findscertain post-independence governments perpetuating colonial law andpractices.

Domestic workers are often trapped in situations of forced labour; they arephysically or legally restrained from leaving the employer’s home, by means ofthreats or of actual violence, or through tactics such as retention of identitydocuments or pay. Overwhelmingly affecting women and children, and oftenclosely linked to trafficking and migration, this practice exists in a number ofcountries.

Stopping forced labour devotes considerable analysis to the persistence ofbonded labour in South Asia. Found mainly in agriculture and certainindustries, millions of men, women, and children across the subcontinent aretied to their work through a vicious circle of debt. The Report first reviewsIndia’s 25 years of experience of making efforts to measure and eradicate theproblem through a range of initiatives in that country. For example, solutionssuch as that pursued in the State of Andhra Pradesh, in which productive assetsand credits were given to former bonded labourers, showed positive results inso far as this enabled male labourers to escape bonded labour. An unintendedconsequence, however, was an increase in the number of women falling intobondage, as they took over more responsibility for repaying family debt. Thisleads the Report to raise the question of why women can inherit the debt andtherefore the debt bondage of their father or husband, but not always his land.

Turning to Pakistan, the Report cites serious abuses among landlesstenant farmers in the Sind region, as documented by the Human RightsCommission of Pakistan. Some 1,000 labourers surveyed revealed that three-quarters had been subject to physical restraint, such as private jails, and thatsome 90 per cent of the children had been compelled to work. The HumanRights Commission of Pakistan has purchased land and set up temporarycamps in order for families to take refuge.

In south-western Nepal, a classic example of semi-feudal agrarian bondedlabour has existed for decades. Whole families, largely belonging to anindigenous ethnic group, have been caught up in a cycle of debt and bondage,which the Government has recently banned in law; indeed it has sought ILOassistance for its elimination in practice.

The use of forced labour by the military and other government entities,ostensibly for development purposes, has led to a high-profile situation involving

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ix STOPPING FORCED LABOUR

Myanmar. In an unprecedented decision in the 80-year history of theOrganization, the ILO constituents have taken action under article 33 of theConstitution. Among other things, this has triggered a call for ILO memberStates, employers’ and workers’ organizations and other internationalorganizations to review their relations with that country.

Stopping forced labour also discusses in detail the newly burgeoningphenomenon of trafficking in persons. This is a truly global problem: mostcountries of the world are “sending countries”, “transit countries”, “receivingcountries”, or a combination of all these. Although trafficking is an old practice,an internationally agreed definition was not reached until recently, in aProtocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational OrganizedCrime that was opened for signature in December 2000. The definition oftrafficking includes a reference to its coercive elements, including forced labour,debt bondage, and slavery-like practices. Indeed, the Report draws a linkbetween modern trafficking and modern forms of bondage throughindebtedness.

Much of the research and publicity regarding trafficking has concentratedon the sex trade sector. Prostitution is sometimes voluntary but overwhelminglyforced, and always so when minors are concerned. Surveys reveal widespreadregional and international trafficking for this industry, often involving criminalorganizations and sometimes conducted through family and communitynetworks. In West Africa trafficked children are generally placed either indomestic service (girls) or in agriculture (boys), and are sometimes drawn intoarmed conflicts.

Europe has seen an explosion of trafficking since the break-up of theformer Soviet Union. While difficult statistically to separate illegal bordercrossings from trafficked migrants, men and women from Eastern Europe andthe Balkans constitute the vast majority of those on the move in this continent.Stopping forced labour calls for more research into the labour market conditionsthat create opportunities for such abuses, and into ways to eliminate them.

The Report, echoing the International Criminal Police Organization(Interpol), asks the question: Why is trafficking in drugs more heavily punishedthan trafficking in human beings? This is especially disturbing in light of thefindings that few individuals or organizations, both on the demand and supplyside of the equation, are ever sanctioned for their crimes. New approaches areproviding witness protection programmes and similar measures to aid thevictims of labour trafficking.

Prison labour poses serious dilemmas for ILO constituents. Two verydifferent issues are raised in this Report: prison labour performed for privateenterprises; and prison labour imposed by the State for what it characterizes asanti-social acts. The first of these is rapidly expanding in the face of the trendtowards privatization, the second diminishing in relation to the number ofregimes that impose such punishment for the expression of political views. Bothare sharply criticized practices.

In Part II, Stopping forced labour analyses the efforts of the ILO and of otherinternational agencies in preventing or eliminating these forms of forced labour,and in rehabilitating its victims. Certain successes have been registered, eitherthrough the ILO’s supervisory bodies or its technical cooperation activities(often in cooperation with other organizations), or in the work of other agencies.The Report concludes that, without a holistic approach combining thestrengths of several organizations, the international community’s response tothe problem will fall short.

Among the various types of forced labour, trafficking in persons hasreceived perhaps the greatest amount of attention recently from a wide range of

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STOPPING FORCED LABOUR x

international agencies and national governments. Highlighting the importantrole played by law enforcement, the Centre for International Crime Prevention(CICP) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice ResearchInstitute (UNICRI) have jointly developed the Global Programme againstTrafficking in Human Beings. The International Organization for Migration(IOM) has, since 1996, implemented a programme in the Mekong subregiontogether with the ILO, combining the return and reintegration of trafficked andother vulnerable women and children.

Within the ILO, the International Programme on the Elimination of ChildLabour (IPEC) has been the most active in addressing the problems of bondedchild labour and trafficking of children. Either in concert with otherinternational organizations or on its own, IPEC works intensively withgovernments, trade unions, employers’ organizations and NGOs to raiseawareness, intervene to stop the practice, and rehabilitate the children involved.The Report portrays measures taken to combat child trafficking in Africa andAsia. For instance, a major programme in the Mekong Delta region targetswomen as well as children. The involvement of women, through education,training, credit, and other empowerment tools, is crucial to any effective strategyto combat trafficking in children.

Microfinance and microcredit arrangements can play an important role inhelping break the cycle of poverty and bondage. In addition to a specificcomponent in a project being developed in Nepal and involving IPEC and theInFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration(DECLARATION), aninnovative ILO approach is being tested throughout South Asia by the SocialFinance Unit. The basic objective of this project is, through research, advocacyand seed funding, to encourage existing microfinance institutions to develop,test and offer savings and loans products specifically for families at risk of fallinginto bonded labour situations. Addressing the complexity of the problem, theproject also organizes support in the areas of education, primary health care,and income-generating activities.

While the Follow-up under the Declaration has a very different role toplay from that of the supervisory machinery existing in relation to theapplication of ILO Conventions, the latter has often revealed obstaclesencountered by member States in implementing the forced labourConventions. This has in turn stimulated the provision of technical assistanceto overcome these obstacles. The purpose of the current Report is not to rehashthe findings of the supervisory machinery, but rather to highlight its successesin bringing certain problems to light and its role in helping to resolve them. Onepractical application of advisory services in relation to the principle ofeliminating forced labour has come in the area of public works projects, whichhave been regularly reviewed to ensure that forced labour practices are notinvolved. International financial institutions have also sought ILO advice inregard to avoiding forced labour in the programmes they sponsor.

Workers’ and employers’ organizations, as well as individual corporations,have taken some concrete steps to address the problem. For example, theGlobal Compact — the United Nations system business partnership agreement— offers sources of information on how to run a commercial or agriculturalbusiness in a way that avoids the emergence of debt bondage. Trade unions, inaddition to raising issues before the supervisory mechanisms, have broughtattention to the problem through their own research, advocacy andmembership recruitment.

Part II of Stopping forced labour provides the basis for an assessment of theeffectiveness of ILO’s assistance. While some successes, past and present, can benoted, especially regarding work undertaken in the rural sector, more concertedefforts will be required to deal seriously with the various forms of forced labour.

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Part III of the Report explores what these efforts might look like, and how theymight be put in place in the struggle against this scourge.

Finally, the Report poses a series of questions suggested for discussion bythe International Labour Conference. Annexes provide the text of theDeclaration and its Follow-up; a flow diagram illustrating the various steps ofthe follow-up; a table of ratifications of Conventions Nos. 29 and 105 andDeclaration annual reports submitted on the elimination of forced labour; andinformation on international instruments relevant to forced labour.

This, the first Global Report on forced labour, is a call to deepenunderstanding and to redouble efforts to eliminate this terrible blight on humanfreedom in all its forms.

1 STOPPING FORCED LABOUR

Introduction

Tackling old and new forms of forced labour

1. Forced labour — a relic of a bygone era? No, sadly not. Although universallycondemned, forced labour is revealing ugly new faces alongside the old. Tradi-tional types of forced labour such as chattel slavery and bonded labour are stillwith us in some areas, and past practices of this type haunt us to this day. In neweconomic contexts, disturbing forms such as forced labour in connection with thetrafficking of human beings are now emerging almost everywhere.

Forced labouris the antithesisof decent work

2. Abusive control of one human being over another is the antithesis of decentwork. Although they might vary outwardly, different types of forced labour sharetwo common features: the exercise of coercion and the denial of freedom. It wasin recognition of this affront to the human spirit that the ILO Declaration on Fun-damental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up included the elimina-tion of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.1 This Report essentially posestwo questions in relation to this fundamental principle: What are the main pat-terns of forced labour today? What can the ILO, working with its constituents andpartner institutions, do to prevent and eliminate it?

The opportunityof the ILO Declaration

3. The adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rightsat Work and its Follow-up in 1998 signalled a renewed international resolve torelegate forced labour to history. Under the ILO Declaration, all member Stateshave an obligation to “respect, promote and realize” the elimination of all formsof forced or compulsory labour as part of a package of mutually reinforcing fun-damental principles.2 The Declaration requires the ILO to support countries’ ef-forts to attain this objective and to marshal assistance from other institutions,thereby reinforcing its own capacity to respond to requests from member Stateswishing to move forward in this direction.

4. The eradication of forced labour presents a unique opportunity to translatethe promotional nature of the ILO Declaration and its Follow-up into practice.But this calls for understanding more clearly what the principle entails, and why

1 While the Declaration and its Follow-up refer to the elimination of all forms of forced or compul-sory labour, this report uses the abbreviated term forced labour.2 The three other categories of principles and rights covered by the ILO Declaration on Fundamen-tal Principles and Rights at Work are: freedom of association and the effective recognition of theright to collective bargaining; the effective abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discri-mination in respect of employment and occupation. Each is the subject of a Global Report everyfour years; the first Global Report appeared in 2000. ILO: Your voice at work, Report of the Director-General, International Labour Conference, Geneva, 88th Session, 2000.

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STOPPING FORCED LABOUR 2

forced labour persists so resiliently today. As the first “global dynamic picture”3

of the subject, this Report will perhaps raise as many questions as it answers. Byidentifying broad patterns of forced labour, the Report sets the stage for gainingincreased knowledge as a basis for action. Where technical cooperation could re-spond to governments’ stated desire to tackle the problem, the Report points topromising comprehensive approaches for ridding the world of a practice that ir-reparably damages human and national development.

Searching for lessons 5. The legal aspects of forced labour have been thoroughly explored by theILO’s supervisory machinery — in particular, three General Surveys and annualreports of the Committee of Experts, as well as discussions at the ConferenceCommittee on the Application of Standards and representations and complaintsunder articles 24 and 26 of the Constitution. This Report does not aim to coverall the issues and complexities of forced labour, especially given the dearth ofstatistical information and analysis of the phenomenon from a socio-economicperspective. However, it does draw upon the insights available from the work ofthe ILO and other international organizations on the subject. It raises questionsabout why new forms of forced labour may now be emerging in the light of recentglobal economic and demographic trends, and why old forms stubbornly persist.Looking at initiatives already undertaken, it also searches for lessons to inform thedesign of a future technical cooperation action plan against forced labour.

The diverse patternsof forced labour today

6. After reviewing the historical background of the prohibition of forced labour,the Report takes a closer look at its main forms as they exist today: � slavery and abductions;� compulsory participation in public works projects;� forced labour in agriculture and remote rural areas (coercive

recruitment systems);� domestic workers in forced labour situations;� bonded labour;� forced labour imposed by the military;� forced labour in the trafficking in persons; and � some aspects of prison labour and rehabilitation through work.

Certain groups — such as women, ethnic or racial minorities, migrants, children,and above all the poor — are particularly vulnerable to these contemporaryforms of forced labour. Situations of armed conflict can also compound the prob-lem. Some patterns of forced labour will probably lend themselves more readilythan others to ILO technical cooperation. This underscores the need for comple-mentary work by a range of institutions and actors to address the policy failurethat forced labour represents.

Practices are outlawed, but denial and impunity persist

7. The proscription of slavery and slavery-like systems such as forced labour isa peremptory norm in international law, allowing no derogations.4 States havemade significant progress in enacting legislation to eliminate these practices, andhave embarked on special programmes against them. Given that they are illegalpractices, however, their existence is sometimes denied. The real challenges arethus twofold. Firstly, there needs to be greater awareness of the economic, politi-cal and social frameworks that can uproot traditional forced labour practices and

3 Under the Follow-up to the Declaration, a Global Report is to be drawn up each year under theresponsibility of the Director-General and to cover one of the four categories of fundamental prin-ciples and rights in turn. The purpose of this Global Report is to provide a “dynamic global picture”of the situation and to serve as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of technical assistance andtechnical cooperation provided by the ILO, and as a basis for the ILO Governing Body to determinetechnical cooperation priorities and plans of action for the following four-year period.4 Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Co. Ltd. (Second Phase) (Belgium v. Spain), 1970, Interna-tional Court of Justice Reports, 3, 32 and 304 (5 Feb.), separate opinion by Justice Ammon; see alsoVienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), art. 53.

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nip new ones in the bud. The law reform process the ILO has pursued with con-siderable success over the years is a starting point, but very much more remainsto be done.

8. Secondly, the cycle of impunity that too often accompanies forced labourmust be broken. Fortunately, there are some new developments at the interna-tional level that may assist in achieving this goal. One of these is that the issue ofeffective governance within countries is high on the agenda of the developmentcommunity. Attaining better enforcement of laws that ban forced labour forms anatural part of repairing failures in governance that characterize many manifes-tations of forced labour. For ratifying States, Convention No. 29 requires ratifyingStates to punish the illegal exaction of forced labour as a penal offence and tostrictly enforce the law.

9. Furthermore, the implementation of a rights-based approach to develop-ment through practical initiatives at the country level holds considerable prom-ise for simultaneously addressing the developmental and human rights goals ofeliminating forced labour.5 This approach disallows development policies,projects or activities that have the effect of violating rights, and fosters those thatembrace principles such as the elimination of forced labour as part and parcel ofdevelopment strategies. It embraces the idea that when human developmentand human rights advance together, they reinforce one another to expandpeople’s capabilities.

10. Finally, newly adopted instruments in the field of international criminal lawhold promise for aiding in the fight against forced labour when it takes certainforms. Extreme cases of forced labour, if considered as a crime against humanityor a war crime, could be subject to the jurisdiction of the International CriminalCourt — once the instrument establishing that body enters into force.6 And withthe adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Per-sons, Especially Women and Children, the international community has alsostrengthened its resolve to combat phenomena that can contain elements offorced labour.7

Unprecedented ILO action underscores seriousness of forced labour

11. It will not be an easy task to improve the socio-economic conditions thatpermit forced labour to breed, or to detect and punish the culprits who perpetrateit, support the victims who speak out and provide alternatives for them — par-ticularly when the persons or institutions exacting forced labour are located inremote regions, when they also exercise political authority at the local or nationallevel, or when they are part of the criminal underworld. Yet the seriousness offorced labour violations was underscored only recently, when the ILO made un-precedented use of a constitutional provision. In the framework of article 33 of itsConstitution, the International Labour Conference called upon its tripartite con-stituents, as well as other international organizations concerned, to take action

5 A fuller description of the rights-based approach to development was presented by the UnitedNations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to the ILO GoverningBody Working Party on the Social Dimension of Globalization in November 2000.6 Provision for establishment of the International Criminal Court was made under the Rome Statute,adopted in July 1998, which included offences of sexual slavery and forced prostitution; the finali-zed draft text of the Elements of Crimes adopted in 2000 specified that these may in some circums-tances include exacting forced labour. United Nations Preparatory Commission for the InternationalCriminal Court (PCNICC): Finalized draft text of the Elements of Crimes (New York, United Nations,2000), doc. PCNICC/2000/1/Add.27 This Protocol, accompanied by the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea andAir, supplemented the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. TheConvention and both Protocols were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 No-vember 2000 and opened for signature a month later (not yet in force).

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against the widespread and systematic recourse to state-sponsored forced labourin one country (Myanmar).8

The past hauntsthe present

12. During the past 100 years or so, the coercive practices of forced labour firstcame to be associated with the colonial regimes of the early twentieth century andremnants of serfdom. Then came the concentration camps, labour camps andother forms of compulsory labour that blighted the mid-century period, andwhich haunt us to this day in the form of continuing claims for compensation in-volving countries and enterprises. With the contemporary consolidation of demo-cratic regimes, together with more open economies and renewed commitmentsto fight poverty and transnational crime, there is fresh hope that forced labour canin fact be relegated to the past.

New forms of bondage emerging

13. And yet aspects of forced and compulsory labour remain tenacious. Someinvolve slavery-like systems such as debt bondage. Traditionally this has beenfound in rural areas, above all in agricultural systems where landowners havebeen the only source of financial credit. Yet there is also evidence that new formsof bondage are now emerging both within and outside agriculture, affecting mi-grant workers and workers in new frontier development areas as well as in urbandomestic households, and sometimes involving bondage over a relatively shortperiod rather than a lifetime. At their heart is an abuse of control over labour.

14. Paradoxically, there is still some uncertainty among ILO constituents as towhether certain practices do or do not constitute forced labour.9 This Reporttherefore starts by reviewing the basic elements of a definition of forced labour.Further research is needed to examine the sociological, cultural and economicfactors, including the gender dimension, that feed or starve forced labourpractices.

A common responsibility

15. While the ILO has been given primary responsibility for forced labour, itseradication calls for concerted action by the entire international community. TheILO can and should take a lead on certain aspects of the problem, as it has doneeffectively in the past. But both for the presentation of the dynamic global pictureof forced labour, and for the preparation of future action plans for its eradication,it is important to see how other international agencies have addressed the prob-lems within their respective areas of competence.

Data gaps are severe 16. Some difficulties of data gathering and statistics have to be mentioned at theoutset. How many people are affected by forced labour today? Where are they?And who are the main victims? How exactly does forced labour operate differ-ently for men, women, boys, girls, youth, migrant workers, or various racialgroups? What are the profiles of those who are benefiting directly from placingothers in human bondage? While these issues crop up in this Report, it is not pos-sible at this stage to give an accurate estimate of the numbers affected on a globalscale; or to take into account in detail the diverse experiences of differentcategories as a basis for targeted action. Why? Forced labour is increasingly ex-acted in the illicit, underground economy. These are the areas that tend to escapenational statistics. And the statistics available are not sufficiently refined to get a

8 ILO: Governing Body doc. GB.279/6/1, 279th Session (November 2000). International LabourConference, 88th Session, Geneva, 2000, Provisional Record Nos. 4, 6-4 and 8, as well as documentsreferred to therein.9 This point emerged in the first review of annual reports under the Follow-up to the Declaration, in whichthe ILO Declaration Expert-Advisers detected confusion in some countries about the definition of forced orcompulsory labour, and suggested that further awareness was needed to clarify understanding of the notion.See ILO: Review of annual reports under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principlesand Rights at Work (subsequently referred to as ILO Review of annual reports under the Declaration), PartI, Introduction by the ILO Declaration Expert-Advisers to the compilation of annual reports, Governing Bodydoc. GB.277/3/1 (Geneva, 2000), paras. 91-92. The annual introductions and the compilations are availableat www.ilo.org/public/English/standards/decl/

INTRODUCTION


proper handle on forced labour. While the most recent UNDP Human Develop-ment Report identifies seven freedoms as hallmarks of human development, thestatistical indicators used in it do not capture forms of forced or compulsorylabour.10 Contemporary forms of forced labour urgently require more investiga-tion and attention to prepare the ground for more accurate, gender-sensitive in-dicators and appraisals as a basis for policy determination and action in thefuture.11

Future avenuesto pursue?

17. In future Global Reports on forced labour, it may be possible to exploremore deeply its relationship to growth, poverty and inequality. Intuitively, forcedlabour challenges the value of labour, undermines human capital formation andcontributes to the cycle of poverty. Yet its persistence in some circumstances callsfor a deeper analysis of how forced labour actually works its downward spiral, andof the effects it has on individuals and communities. The erosion of quality em-ployment and the growth of the undocumented, informal economy must surelymake it easier for such practices to occur. A closer look is also needed into the pos-sible negative synergies among forced labour, child labour, discrimination andthe absence of freedom of association. This initial report will, it is hoped, stimulatesuch work in the future.

A serious problem calls for serious action

18. With or without a full statistical picture or in-depth socio-economic analysis,there is certainly still enough evidence to detect a serious problem. Over the years,ILO work has clearly brought this to light. Fortunately, some traditional types offorced labour have been eradicated successfully, through land, labour, civil rightsand other social and legal reforms. The elements of this success deserve greaterscrutiny. In the promotional spirit of the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration, thisReport issues a determined call for intensified international and national actionnow to help countries around the world stamp out the scourge of forced labouronce and for all.

10 UNDP: Human Development Report, Human Rights and Human Development (New York, 2000).11 Within the ILO, progress may be made through work being pursued by the International Institute of La-bour Studies, the Advisory Group on Statistics and the InFocus Programme on Socio-Economic Security.

Part I. Forced and compulsory labour:A dynamic global picture


1. The evolving faces of forced1. labour

A DYNAMIC GLOBAL PICTURE

Forced labour: A precise term

19. As an emotive subject, forced labour has to be approached with some carein the terminology used. The popular media may refer to “modern slavery”, as-sociating such a concept generally with abusive working conditions or very lowrates of pay.1 There have been long-standing policy debates over the economicas well as extra-economic aspects of coercive labour arrangements.

20. Forced labour is a legal term as well as an economic phenomenon. It will notbe possible to “respect, promote and realize” the principle of the elimination ofall forms of forced or compulsory labour without knowing what the phrasemeans. The full definition contains exclusions — but the basic idea is clearenough. It was set out in the first ILO Convention on the subject,2 the ForcedLabour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) (Article 2(1)): “The term ‘forced or compul-sory labour’ shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person

1 In the view of one government in its annual report under the Declaration, “Labour may be forcednot only owing to physical force ... but also owing to hunger and poverty which compels [a worker]him to accept employment for remuneration which is less than the statutory minimum wage”.Report by the Government of India, ILO: Review of annual reports under the Declaration, Part II(Geneva, 2000), Governing Body doc. GB.277/3/2, p. 200.2 At the time of the adoption of the Declaration, the ILO Legal Adviser stated that for purposes ofthis principle, it was perfectly legitimate, in determining what was understood by the term, to referto the definition in the Convention, which excluded some situations. ILO: International Labour Con-ference, 86th Session, Geneva, 1998, Provisional Record No. 20, para. 219. The exclusions inConvention No. 29 are “(a) any work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military servicelaws for work of a purely military character; (b) any work or service which forms part of the normalcivic obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country; (c) any work or service exactedfrom any person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, provided that the said workor service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the saidperson is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations;(d) any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war or of acalamity or threatened calamity, such as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epi-zootic diseases, invasion by animal, insect or vegetable pests, and in general any circumstance thatwould endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population; (e) minorcommunal services of a kind which, being performed by the members of the community in thedirect interest of the said community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations in-cumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the members of the community ortheir direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for suchservices.” (Article 2(2)).



under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offeredhimself voluntarily.” The “penalty” referred to need not be in the form of penalsanctions, but might take also the form of loss of rights or privileges.

The changing contextof forced labour

21. However, while the legal notion remains constant, the context of forced andcompulsory labour evolves over time. At the risk of some oversimplification, thefollowing broad characterizations of the international community’s main con-cerns over the forced labour principle during different historical periods illus-trate how new problems have given rise to new solutions.

First Conventionson slavery and forced labour

22. By the end of the 1800s, slavery and the slave trade had been outlawedaround the world. The 1920s saw first the adoption of the League of Nations’Slavery Convention in 1926, and then the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention,1930 (No. 29). At this time the main issues of concern were the exaction offorced and compulsory labour from native populations during the colonialperiod. In large areas of the world, colonial administrations used variousforms of coercion to obtain labour for the development of communicationsand the general economic infrastructure, and for the working of mines,plantations and other activities.3 Discussions centred on the safeguards to beadopted, and the measures needed to secure the abolition of forced labour atthe earliest opportunity.

23. The League of Nations’ Slavery Convention prohibited all aspects of theslave trade, including “all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal ofa person with intent to reduce him to slavery”.4 Contracting parties were alsorequired “to take all necessary measures to prevent forced or compulsorylabour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery”. The League ofNations requested the ILO to undertake the work that eventually led to theadoption of Convention No. 29 in 1930,5 an instrument whose continuing rel-evance has been recently recalled.6 This Convention required suppression ofthe use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possi-ble time.

Second slaveryand forced labour Conventions

24. The second major period of standard-setting activity came during the1950s, when the colonial era was reaching its end and concern over the use offorced labour for political purposes was growing. In the inter-war period andduring the Second World War, the world witnessed forced labour being usedon a mass scale outside as well as within a colonial setting. These experiencesno doubt served as one of the inspirations for the phrase in the Declaration ofPhiladelphia (1944), that “all human beings … have the right to pursue boththeir material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions offreedom and dignity, economic security and equal opportunity”.7 The Univer-sal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) reaffirmed the principle that “no oneshall be held in slavery or servitude”, as well as the right to “free choice ofemployment”.8

3 ILO: Forced labour, General conclusions on the reports relating to the international labour Con-ventions and Recommendations dealing with forced labour and compulsion to labour, InternationalLabour Conference, 46th Session, Geneva, 1962.4 The 1926 Convention defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any orall of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised”.5 See: Forced labour, op. cit., para. 19; N. Valticos: International labour law (Kluwer, Deventer,Netherlands, 1979).6 Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations,Report III (Part 1A), International Labour Conference, 89th Session, Geneva, 2001, paras. 84-85.7 Para. II(a). The Declaration of Philadelphia, adopted in 1944, has become part of the ILO Consti-tution.8 Arts. 4 and 23(1).



25. By the 1950s, serious new problems were being addressed, many of themof a political or ideological nature, because of forced labour exacted from mil-lions of people consigned to labour camps for political reasons. Moreover, asmany countries in Asia and Latin America embarked on redistributive agrarianand land tenancy reforms, there was new momentum to wipe out servile laboursystems — the vestiges of the “agrarian feudalism” that had been so widespreadin the developing countries at that time. It was in this context that the UnitedNations adopted its 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slav-ery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices similar to Slavery, calling onall States parties to abolish such practices as debt bondage9 and serfdom.10 Thefollowing year, the ILO adopted its Abolition of Forced Labour Convention,1957 (No. 105). It called for the suppression of forced labour as a means ofpolitical coercion, labour discipline, or racial, social, national or religious dis-crimination; as a method of mobilizing and using labour for purposes of econ-omic development; and as punishment for having participated in strikes.11

New issues to address26. The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s saw new issues emerging with regard to free-dom of employment, or the compulsion to work. Throughout the Cold Warperiod, vagrancy laws involving an obligation to work in the Communist bloccountries and in some newly independent States, notably in the African region,were a cause for continuing concern.

27. This was also a highly significant period of social reforms in the develop-ing countries, involving in particular land and tenancy reforms, often accom-panied by expanded labour rights and some social benefits. Land and tenancyreforms, frequently aimed at breaking up large feudal estates and transferringownership rights to former tenants or farm workers, did much to eradicate thecompulsory labour that had previously been widespread in the traditional agri-cultural estates of Latin America. Similar reforms were enacted in Asia, but ap-pear to have had less practical success in eradicating debt-peonage and bondedlabour systems in parts of this continent. The objectives everywhere were toeradicate the servile and unpaid labour systems which were opposed by mod-ernizers on economic as well as humanitarian grounds, and to replace them byfree wage labour systems in the interests of greater social equity and also pro-ductive efficiency.

28. The spirit of the time is well reflected by the identification of “full, produc-tive and freely chosen employment” as a major policy goal in the 1960s.12 Theprinciple of prohibiting forced labour also became anchored in the Interna-tional Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966. Questions began to ariseconcerning the propriety of degrees of compulsion that could be used in em-ployment and training programmes in developing and developed countriesalike.

9 Under this Convention debt bondage is defined as “the status or condition arising from a pledgeby a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt,if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of thedebt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined”.(Article 1(a)).10 The same Convention defines serfdom as “the condition or status of a tenant who is by law, cus-tom or agreement bound to live and labour on land belonging to another person and to rendersome determinate service to such other person, whether for reward or not, and is not free to changehis status”. (Article 1(b)).11 Further information on Conventions Nos. 29 and 105 is contained in Annex 4.12 Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122). The period also saw a spate of standard settingon active labour market policies, including human resources development and broader socialpolicies, as well as instruments to promote the rights of tenants and sharecroppers, as well as ruralworkers’ organizations.



Heightened awareness of gender issues and child labour

29. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a growing awareness of genderissues. Greater light was shed on ways in which women in particular could besubject to forced labour, in situations ranging from work as domestic servantsto being trafficked into the sex trade. Gender analysis would call as well for anexploration of situations in which men were more likely to be involved in forcedlabour, as in certain types of work and in certain types of prison labour.

30. The worldwide movement to combat exploitative child labour has al-ready exposed practices involving forced labour that have shocked the humanconscience, in situations ranging from domestic service in cities of the devel-oped and developing world to bonded labour in brick kilns. It is no accident thatthe Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) lists “all formsof slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of chil-dren, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, includingforced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict” as oneset of the practices prohibited by this Convention.13 This instrument helps putthe spotlight on new ways in which children are involved in forced labour, aswell as on traditional forms of exploitation such as the now outlawed trokosipractice.14

The approachof international financial institutions

31. The recent period has also featured the predominance of the BrettonWoods institutions regarding economic and labour market reforms, structuraladjustment, strategies for poverty reduction, decentralization of governmentand related issues. Whether these policy prescriptions have improved orworsened the situation as regards various forms of forced labour is a matter ofspeculation, since no serious work has been undertaken in this regard. Closercooperation between the ILO and the international financial institutions maycreate space for examining more closely how the elimination of forced labourcontributes to development. Surely the recent observations of the World Bankon “sound governance” and the importance of “voice for the poor” would cre-ate new openings for seeing the elimination of all forms of forced labour as partof sound and sustainable development. Indeed, institutions of the World Bankgroup have, with advice from the ILO, issued guidelines intended to precludeforced labour practices by their own contractors.15 Similarly, the Inter-American Development Bank group has recently evidenced support for corelabour standards, including the prohibition of forced labour.16

Solid consensuson the principle

32. As a peremptory norm of international law, the proscription of slaveryand slavery-like practices constitutes a principle recognized by the internationalcommunity as a whole. Looking at ratifications of the relevant ILO instruments,the principle of eliminating forced or compulsory labour as expressed in Con-ventions Nos. 29 and 105 has attracted a very high degree of international ac-ceptance. They are the most highly ratified of the fundamental Conventions

13 Art. 3(a). The principles and rights derived from this Convention and from the Minimum AgeConvention, 1973 (No. 138) will be the theme of the next Global Report, to be discussed at the90th Session of the International Labour Conference in 2002.14 Ghana reported that the Criminal Code was amended in 1998 to outlaw this traditional practice,which involves a young girl becoming the property of the fetish priest and labouring for him inorder to atone offences committed by a member of her family. (Government report under the ILOReview of annual reports under the Declaration, Part II (Geneva, 2001), Governing Body doc.GB.280/3/2).15 The International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency havetaken this step. See for instance the IFC Policy Statement, March 1998, at www.ifc.org/enviro/en-viro/childlabor/child.htm [visited 12 Jan. 2001].16 The Inter-American Investment Corporation and the Inter-American Development Bank’s PrivateSector Department adopted policies of this nature in 1999.



(figure 1.1).17 Surely this consensus can support a renewed resolve to stamp outthe new and old forms of this practice.

33. The ILO Declaration is about principles and rights, not specific provi-sions of Conventions. In the context of forced labour, a number of ILO instru-ments can provide policy guidance for the creation of conditions to foster theelimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour. These range from thepromotion of freely chosen employment to the encouragement of sound recruit-ment practices (see Annex 4).

State and non-state actors

34. With coercion at the heart of forced labour, the principle of eliminating itapplies irrespective of whether the perpetrators are acting officially, as agents ofthe State, or unofficially as private individuals. The ILO’s two forced labourConventions were adopted in a global context in which the State was seen asbeing the party primarily involved in the exaction of forced labour, althoughthey did not exclude from their coverage situations where non-state actorscould be involved.18 Against a background of international concern about cer-tain aspects of forced labour today, the agents of coercive labour practices are

17 Only 10 of the ILO’s 175 member States (Armenia, China, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kiribati,Mongolia, Nepal, Republic of Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Viet Nam) had, by 1 March 2001, ratifiedneither Convention No. 29 (155 ratifications on that date) nor Convention No. 105 (152 ratificationson that date). See Annex 3 for details.18 Convention No. 29 provides that the competent authority shall not impose or permit the impo-sition of forced labour for the benefit of private individuals, companies or associations. It alsostresses that the illegal exaction of forced labour shall be punishable as a penal offence, and that itshall be an obligation on any member State to ensure that the penalties imposed by law are reallyadequate and are strictly enforced.

146

156

139

100 125 150 175

05.95 Launch of campaign to ratify

fundamental Conventions

18.06.98Adoption of Declaration

1.03.01

130

153

115

100 125 150 175

05.95 Launch of campaign to ratify

fundamental Conventions

18.06.98 Adoption of Declaration

1.03.01

Figure 1.1. Progress in ratification

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)

ILO member States

ILO member States



very often not the State and its institutions, but rather private individuals or en-terprises acting with impunity from the State and its law enforcement institu-tions. Yet whether as a direct actor or by acquiescing to behaviour of individualssubject to its jurisdiction, the State remains responsible if forced labour is notprevented or punished. Contemporary developments in international lawprovide further support for such judicial action. Using domestic law, nationalprosecutors and courts have played an important role in punishing persons whoengage in forced labour and in compensating their victims (see box 1.1).

35. Another important development of late is less encouraging: an explosionin the number of persons trafficked across national borders and continents, andthen forced into activities including sweatshop labour, domestic service andeven prostitution.19 This is often a form of contemporary debt bondage, wherethe persons involved — and sometimes their families — have to pay off the ex-penses advanced to them for their illegal transport and immigration. While in-ternational concern over trafficking is not new, the magnitude of the problem is.

Rural population and domestic workers especially at risk

36. Similar kinds of coercion have been used in other types of activity, oftenin the rural sector. After money has been advanced, there can be varying kindsof restriction on the freedom of the worker to terminate employment, or evento leave the workplace. Such coercive practices may by no means be new. Ad-vances by recruiting agents to poor rural workers, in order to secure a cheaplabour supply for the harvest season or to work in urban households, have longbeen a feature of the agrarian systems of some developing countries. The prac-tice of confiscating domestic workers’ identity documents to prevent them fromrunning away from hard work with excessive hours has long been condemnedas an abusive labour practice.

37. It is disturbing that such practices can survive in a modern wage economy,and in certain cases may even be growing. Where remote areas of a country areopened up for agricultural, forestry or mineral development, workers have beentransported there from poorer regions, often lured by a monetary advance. Thiscan translate into conditions of debt bondage. Some governments have had to

19 The recognition that persons may be compelled into engaging in prostitution as an economicactivity in no way suggests that the ILO endorses it.

Box 1.1National courts to the defence of forced labour victims: A few examples out of millions

Ruling against the managers of a fish-processingcompany, the Indian High Court in Bombay (India)found that they had treated a worker as a bondedlabourer by confining her to factory premises andeven dragging her back when she tried to escape.She had migrated to a large city from a rural area.Her experience led to an investigation of conditionsat the workplace, where other instances of forcedlabour were found. She was awarded compensationand the court ordered continued monitoring of thesituation and free access to the workplace for aworkers’ organization.

In the United States, a federal court convictedtraffickers on charges of alien smuggling and ofsubjecting some 70 labourers from Thailand to in-

voluntary servitude. The women workers, from im-poverished backgrounds and with little education,had been incarcerated in a clandestine garment fac-tory that was surrounded by high walls topped byrazor wire and patrolled around the clock by sen-tries. The fruits of their work went to paying off so-called debts. The perpetrators received prison sen-tences of up to seven years, and the court awardedthe sum of US$4.5 million to the victims.

While it is heartening that victims of forcedlabour can obtain relief in the courts, it is a longroad to get to this point, calling for much persever-ance. How much better it would be to keep forcedlabour situations from occurring in the first place.



undertake special programmes to rescue and release the victims in remote ruralareas. However, despite the existence of national laws to punish offenders, therehave been very few cases of successful convictions.

Why is traffickingin drugs punishedmore severely than traffickingin human beings?

38. The kinds of forced labour described above might be attributed to varioustypes of failure in labour markets and financial markets, and of asymmetries ofinformation. The State’s incapacity to enforce its own legislation can be ad-dressed in part by strengthened labour inspection. But when forced labour is il-legally and violently exacted through various forms of criminal activity, it isclear that the appropriate response exceeds the capacity of the labour auth-orities alone. The Second International Conference on Trafficking in Womenand Illegal Immigration convened by Interpol in November 2000 called for aseries of cross-border efforts to increase the number of successful prosecutionsof the criminals involved. It also posed a disturbing question: Why does drugtrafficking draw stiffer penalties than trafficking in human beings? And whenthe victims of trafficking are themselves treated as criminals, they are unlikelyto come forth with denunciations.

39. The exaction of other forms of contemporary forced labour can involve aresponsibility of the State that is more direct than law enforcement, however.The use of forced labour to punish political dissent and persons exercising free-dom of association is not yet a thing of the past. Non-democratic regimes mayrely upon forced labour for infrastructure development. For persons in certainoccupational categories, a State, such as Iraq, may impose restrictions on leav-ing employment. Students’ inability to pay for their vocational education maylead some to seek financing from a future employer, for whom they then mustwork to pay off the debt.20 And then there are the circumstances and conditionsin which persons incarcerated upon conviction by the State may performlabour for private companies or individuals in either publicly administered orprivately run prisons — an issue raising its own questions about labour marketimplications. These matters all form part of the dynamic global picture onforced labour.

A focus on structural concerns

40. Given the promotional nature of the Declaration, the main emphasis inthis Report is placed on structural concerns that might be tackled through afuture programme of technical assistance. With that in mind, the typology offorced labour used here is thematic, though certain problems appear to be mostacute in particular regions. In all parts of the world, there is a need for morecomplete data that are sensitive to gender, ethnic and racial dimensions, and adeeper analysis of the various phenomena of forced labour and its relationshipto development. The Report highlights positive measures taken by individualcountries and intergovernmental organizations to identify and tackle the prob-lems of forced labour. These in turn form the springboard for identifying pos-sible elements for an action programme aimed at eliminating forced labouraround the globe.

20 B.C. Amoussou, Etude nationale pour l’identification des obstacles de la mise en œuvre effectivedes principes et droits fondamentaux au travail au Bénin (Cotonou, 2000), p. 32.


2. Slavery and abductions:2. continuing problem

The problemof abductions

41. The physical abduction of persons for forced labour purposes is certainlynot as common in the modern world as it was before slavery became outlawed.Relatively rare contemporary cases have nevertheless been detected, most par-ticularly in parts of Africa. Three examples are highlighted here — Liberia,Mauritania and Sudan — although abductions have also occurred in otherconflict-torn societies. Abductions may take place in the context of traditionalrivalries, as in Mauritania, or in out-and-out armed conflict as in Liberia, Sudanand elsewhere. The release and rehabilitation of former slaves thus becomes akey element in national reconciliation. Breaking the cycle of forced labour in aconflict situation may also influence its course, given that the fruit of that labourmay be helping to sustain the fighting. Will international measures to stop tradein diamonds extracted by miners who are pressed into service by parties to theconflict in Sierra Leone, for instance, help achieve a lasting peace and the lib-eration of slaves quickly?

Legal frameworks need support

42. In Mauritania, traditionally, members of Arab or Berber tribes cap-tured black slaves in the south, bringing them north to carry out heavy agricul-tural and domestic work. While some were already released during the colonialperiod, and others escaped or purchased their freedom, it is estimated thathundreds of thousands of Mauritanians were still enslaved by the time of inde-pendence in 1961. The new Constitution then abolished slavery. A furtherDeclaration of July 1980 proclaimed the abolition of slavery. However, there isno specific unit of government designated to coordinate the struggle againstslavery and no adequate monitoring of the situation of freed slaves; hence sug-gestions that slavery and slavery-like practices persisted were still being made in1997.21

43. The Government has referred to a policy for the integration of descend-ants of former slaves as well as to measures to combat illiteracy and promoteschool attendance, access to land and integration into the political hierarchy

21 ILO: Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations[subsequently referred to as Report of the Committee of Experts], Report III (Part 1A), InternationalLabour Conference, 88th Session, Geneva, 2000, pp. 104-105. A communication received from theWorld Confederation of Labour (WCL) mentions the persistence of practices equivalent to slavery,despite the Declaration of 1980 abolishing slavery.



and administration of the State.22 Recently, under an ILO Declaration techni-cal cooperation project funded by France, a legal and economic assessment ofthe country’s situation in relation to the four categories of fundamental princi-ples and rights at work was launched to provide the Government and the socialpartners with a clear picture of how matters now stand and what action mayneed to be taken.

Resurgence in timesof armed conflict

44. In Sudan there are some historical parallels with Mauritania, in thattraditional forms of slavery can be attributed to old tensions between thepeoples of the northern and southern parts of the country. A United NationsSpecial Rapporteur has referred to an “age-old pattern of rivalry and confron-tation” between the different ethnic groups; during fighting, “both sides tradi-tionally captured prisoners whom they reduced to slavery unless or until theywere redeemed through ransom”.23 A major concern is that these practiceshave been revived since the onset of Sudan’s present-day civil conflict.

45. UNICEF estimated in May 2000 that between 5,000 and 10,000 personsaltogether had been abducted in Sudan since the start of the conflict in 1983.In the past two years, both the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) and theInternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) have sounded thealarm over continuing reports of abductions and slavery.24

46. The Government of Sudan, following criticism that it had permitted Arabtribesmen to kidnap and enslave civilians in the war-torn southern region,established a Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women andChildren (CEAWC) in May 1999 (see box 2.1). The foreign ministries ofCanada and Sudan also undertook an assessment mission in January 2000 toexamine human security in the African country. Its report identified both offi-cial and non-official perpetrators of abductions.25 The ILO has had indicationsthat the Government would like to move forward to resolve the continuingproblems.

Recommendationsfor reconciliationin Liberia

47. In October 1998 the ICFTU communicated a report by two nationalorganizations, Focus and the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), concerningforced labour involving children in the south-eastern region of Liberia. Forcedlabour was identified as “a spillover of the gross abuses that characterized thecivil war”, with ex-combatants and commanders of former warring factions tak-ing advantage of the difficult economic situation in the region. Socially aban-doned children were reportedly held hostage by adults and used as a source offorced and captive labour.

48. The Government appointed a special committee in May 1998 to investi-gate the allegations. Though not establishing conclusive evidence of forcedlabour in the region, it recommended that a national committee be establishedto trace and reunite the displaced women and children taken captive during thewar; and that allegations of forced labour and hostage situations be furtherinvestigated in certain districts. And to enhance national reconciliation andreunification programmes, local authorities should be directed to encouragecitizens to report any acts of alleged forced labour.26 In a recent report, the Gov-ernment stated that the recommendations had been implemented, and that ithoped that draft legislation making forced labour a crime would soon be passed.

22 ibid., 1994, p. 114.23 United Nations: Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, New York (doc. E/CN.4/1999/38/Add.1,17 May 1999), para. 62.24 Report of the Committee of Experts, 88th and 89th Sessions, Geneva, 2000 and 2001.25 ibid., 89th Session, 2001.26 CEAWC: Human rights of women and children in Sudan (CEAWC, Khartoum, 2000).



Noting that the region had now been linked by road to other parts of the coun-try, it reported that commercial activities and farming were booming.28 Indeed,the creation of such alternatives can reduce the risk of people falling back intoforced labour situations.27xxx28

Conflict, ethnicityand forced labour

49. The coincidence of traditional forms of slavery with ethnic divisions sug-gests a linkage between eliminating forced labour and eliminating discrimina-tion in societies. In addition to the examples just cited, there have beensuggestions of traditional forms of slavery involving forced labour by Pygmiesand Bantus in the Congo.29 Eliminating forced labour and resolving conflictsmust go hand in hand, as better understanding of one can assist in tackling theother.

27 Report of the Committee of Experts, 2000, pp. 101-103.28 Report of the Government of Liberia under the ILO Review of annual reports under the Declara-tion, Part II, 2001.29 Report of the Committee of Experts, 2001.

Box 2.1Action against abductions in Sudan

The aim of the Committee for the Eradication ofAbduction of Women and Children (CEAWC) is tostop the abductions and to address the root causesof the problem. Measures have included the compi-lation of a detailed registry of cases, in order to iden-tify, trace and reunify targeted numbers of womenand children over a short period of time. CEAWC hasthe authority to arrest suspected offenders andbring them to trial, as well as to undertake investi-gations and searches. However, CEAWC has pre-ferred a participatory process involving representa-

tives of the communities that have carried out theabductions. To facilitate its work, CEAWC has ap-pointed as liaison officers high-ranking officialsfrom the army and police, security and prosecutionoffices, and local authorities. In its report for theMay 1999-June 2000 period, CEAWC stated that ithad documented 1,230 cases of abducted womenand children, of whom 353 have been reunifiedwith their families.27 A further 500 persons havebeen released and moved to transit centres, al-though there is some debate as to these figures.


3. Compulsory participationin public works


Traditional communal practices

50. In a number of societies, able-bodied individuals have been required toparticipate in certain aspects of community or even national development.In any discussion of forced labour and development, the role of traditionalauthority systems is bound to arise. Many communities have a long-standingtradition of participatory voluntary labour, including the reciprocal arrange-ments in which families assist each other in agricultural and other tasks. Thecontemporary relevance of such situations is seen mostly in Africa and Asia,although it may exist elsewhere. However, designating practices such as“minor communal services” or “normal civic obligations” should not masksituations that are in fact forced labour.

Compulsory labour and economic development in Asia

51. In parts of Asia, there have been requirements for compulsory partici-pation in public works. It has sometimes been argued that there is culturalacceptance of the practice as a contribution to rapid economic development.Such views were expressed by the Government of Myanmar, for example,in the context of the ILO Commission of Inquiry findings of widespread andsystematic resort to forced labour in that country.

52. In its initial annual report under the follow-up to the Declaration, theGovernment of Viet Nam observed that “for the Government and the ILO,there are differences of definition of forced labour and public works dutiesfor the citizens of Viet Nam”. Under legislation enacted in January 2000, alladult men under the age of 45 and all adult women under 35 have been re-quired to provide ten days of community service per year. Following criti-cism of the use of community service conscripts in road construction, VietNam drew up new regulations in October 2000 to provide for the paymentof minimum wages and national insurance contributions for all persons en-gaged in road construction under the community service programme; none-theless, this does not alter the underlying issue of the compulsory nature ofthe work.

53. Similar developments have recently been reported in Cambodia. Ameasure adopted in February 1994 had provided for up to 15 days per yearof compulsory labour for irrigation works. This was repealed in July 2000 byprovisions calling for one day per year of manual hydrology work for all adultcitizens, but on a voluntary basis. Gradually, understanding is increasing



that economic development is retarded rather than helped by forcing peopleto work under threat of a penalty.

Compulsory cultivation in Africa

54. In a number of African countries, national legislation or local by-lawsstill provide for some form of compulsory cultivation, or other forms of com-pulsory labour and services. This is the case, for instance, in the CentralAfrican Republic,30 Kenya,31 and Sierra Leone,32 as well as the Unit-ed Republic of Tanzania, where the 1985 Constitution, while prohibit-ing forced labour, also provides for a general obligation to work. TheTanzanian Government has begun to address some concerns expressed overthis and has proposed law reforms. In Swaziland, the Swazi AdministrationOrder of 1998 provides for compulsory cultivation, anti-erosion work androad works, with severe penalties for non-compliance. The Government hasbeen asked to take steps to bring the Order into line with Convention No. 29,which it has ratified.

30 Whereas 40-year old legislation (Act No. 60/109 of 27 June 1960) provides for minimum surfacesfor cultivation to be established for each rural community, the Government has indicated that com-pulsory cultivation no longer exists in practice.31 Under the Chief’s Authority Act, able-bodied males between 18 and 45 years of age may be re-quired to perform work or service in connection with the conservation of natural resources for upto 60 days in any year. In this country, the Government has affirmed its intention to repeal the le-gislation.32 Compulsory cultivation may be imposed under the Chiefdom Councils Act, though the Govern-ment has stated that this law is not applied in practice.


4. Forced labour in agriculture and remote rural areas: Coercive recruitment practices


Resurgent debt bondage

55. Systems of peonage and serfdom have for the most part been success-fully eradicated over recent decades. Other forms of coercion and compul-sion have however been detected. Rural workers can still be locked into debtthrough advances made by recruiting and transporting agents, who are oftenindependent contractors supplying a labour force for landowners or otherforms of rural enterprise. In isolated areas, workers have no choice but to in-cur further debt for food and other necessities supplied by the landowner orcontractor, or accepting goods in lieu of wages (the so-called “truck system”).Physical restraint and force is often used against the rural workers caught upin such debt bondage situations. Sometimes debts run up to finance dowries,weddings and funerals and other ceremonies that have to be paid off by culti-vating crops.33

Isolation invites abuse56. Serious problems exist in remote areas; for example, tropical forests havebeen opened up for agricultural, mineral or forestry development. The personssusceptible to abuse may be indigenous and tribal peoples. A common featuretends to be that these workers end up very far from home, often in inhospitableand inaccessible tropical areas. This isolation increases their vulnerability toabuse, and lessens the chance of effective redress through formal sector law en-forcement institutions, trade union representation or community networks. Thusthe problems of coercion are often connected with seasonal labour migration,both within and across national frontiers. The migration may be to jobs in agri-culture, forestry, processing of food products or materials, or domestic work butall risk ending up in debt bondage.

Children affected57. There have been quite widespread reports of forced labour on theagricultural plantations of West Africa, affecting children in particular. In Côted’Ivoire for example, there is information on children being forced to work onplantations; this affects in particular those hailing from certain ethnic groups

33 B.C. Amoussou, op. cit.



within the country as well as from Mali and Burkina Faso.34 It has been es-timated that between 10,000 and 15,000 children from Mali are working onplantations in Côte d’Ivoire,35 but the problems are more generalizedthroughout the region. Benin and Togo are other countries where they havebeen detected. Sometimes the desire for a better life for their children leads par-ents to entrust their girls to another family where, instead of being sent toschool, they then perform household tasks. The system is known under differentnames: restavek in Haiti and vidomegon in Benin, for example. It can involve traf-ficking of children over borders for this purpose. Abuses have also been re-ported whereby boys are placed in informal Koranic schools in Africa; themasters, having promised to provide religious instruction, then compel them towork long hours and beg on the street.36 It is Latin America, however, that pro-vides the richest source of information on forced labour in rural settings.

Forced labourand Latin America’s indigenous peoples

58. Though rural serfdom has been largely eradicated, pockets of virtually un-paid labour with service obligations have still been detected in Latin America —for example in parts of Guatemala and Mexico and in the Amazon region ofPeru. In Mexico, the National Indigenous Institute (INI) has referred to seriousabuses against mainly indigenous workers in the rural sector, including allega-tions of the coercive form of recruitment known as “enganche”, under which in-digenous workers are provided with the means of subsistence through a debt thathas to be paid off by producing goods and services.37

59. In the Andean countries too, indigenous peoples have been particularly af-fected by forced labour in rural areas. In Peru, for example, this has been de-tected in parts of the Amazon basin. The World Confederation of Labour hasreferred to practices of slavery and debt bondage affecting indigenous peoples,especially in the Atalaya and Ucayali regions.38 In the Peruvian Amazon a jointinspection programme has been coordinated between the judicial authority, po-lice, and a number of government agencies. They have found that most indige-nous people in riverside areas have been employed in logging activities, workingfor employers who pay for their services in food and clothing. The Governmenthas informed the ILO that it is applying appropriate sanctions for such infrac-tions, and that monitoring by labour authorities continues. Yet perhaps ofgreater importance has been the land titling programmes undertaken in the re-gion, holding out prospects of guaranteeing indigenous livelihoods in the longerterm (see box 4.1).

Abusive recruitment practices

60. From available information on rural labour markets in Latin America, itwould appear that present-day systems of recruitment through intermediariesrepresent an evolution of the traditional forms of enganche recruitment that haveexisted in different forms in the region for many decades. One ILO study onseasonal rural workers in Latin America41 suggests that the debt factor may befar less important than previously in these recruitment systems. For indigenous

34 Report of the Committee of Experts, 1999 and 2001.35 UNICEF: Report of the sub-regional workshop on trafficking in child domestic service in West andCentral Africa (Abidjan, UNICEF, p.199).36 UNICEF/World Bank: Le placement des enfants au Bénin: entre tradition et “modernité” (Abomey,2000); Report of the Government of Gambia under the ILO Review of annual reports under theDeclaration, Part II, 2000; information from ILO field offices regarding Benin, Burkina Faso, Côted’Ivoire, Niger, Senegal and Togo.37 Report of the Committee of Experts, 1996.38 Working to pay off recruitment-related debts that may be either short term or more permanent,workers are forced to live within the confines of a hacienda. A multisectoral committee (createdby resolution 083-88 PCM on the situation of indigenous communities in Atalaya) found that certaincommunities were subjected to debt bondage on large and medium-sized agricultural and forestryestates, and constituted an unpaid or only partly paid workforce. Once again, the mechanisms ofbondage were advance payments through the “enganche” system.



workers, however, advance payments are still used in order to induce indebted-ness before the harvest season.39 40xx41

61. Similar recruitment methods appear to be used in a number of LatinAmerican countries where indigenous peoples perform much of the seasonal la-bour in commercial agriculture. Landowners have recourse to independent la-bour contractors (contratistas) who make advance payments (anticipios) at times ofscarcity in peasant communities. In Guatemala, research in the mid-1990sfound that the majority of recruitment was carried out in this way. Sometimesindigenous peoples themselves received commissions for each worker recruiteddespite the prohibition of this practice by law; and advance payments werewidespread.42

62. In Bolivia, current ILO research on indigenous (internal) migrant labourin the sugar harvest finds a similar pattern, with these people being locked in acycle of debt bondage. Contracts are verbal, and although labour contractors(contratista or enganchador) are expressly prohibited by law, they remain the key in-termediaries. Cane-cutters may borrow the monetary equivalent of 40 tonnesof sugar at the beginning of the harvest and it is difficult for them to pay off theirdebts by the end of the four-month harvest. Thus indigenous workers tend torequest another loan at the end of the harvest, under the promise of returningthe following year.43

Haitian workersin the Dominican Republic

63. Sugar cane production was also the setting of one of the most widely doc-umented instances of coercive labour contracting over the past two decades:that of Haitian migrant workers in the Dominican Republic. The suppliercountry, Haiti, has long been the poorest in the western hemisphere, and peas-ants from the most eroded and impoverished parts of the country desperatelyneed cash incomes. In the receiving country, the Dominican Republic, thebulk of sugar cane production was — until its recent privatization — in thehands of state-owned plantations and sugar mills run by the State Sugar Board(CEA). As the two countries share the same Caribbean island of Hispaniola,there is widespread illegal movement across their common border. In February2000, the two governments signed an accord to address the problems this hasentailed (see box 4.2).

39 R. Plant and S. Hvalkof: Land Titling and Indigenous Peoples (Washington, DC, Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank, 2000).40 S. Hvalkof: “From slavery to democracy: The indigenous process of Upper Ucayali and Gran Pajo-nal”, in P.G. Hierro, S. Hvalkof and A. Gray, Liberation through Land Rights in the Peruvian Amazon(Copenhagen, 1998, International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs).41 S. Gomez and E. Klein: Los Pobres del Campo: el Trabajador Eventual (Santiago, 1993, FLACSO/PREALC).42 R. Plant: Rebuilding Civil Society: Rural Workers’ Organizations in Guatemala, Issues in Develop-ment Discussion Paper No. 5 (Geneva, ILO, 1995).43 M. Villavicienco: Trabajo forzoso u obligatorio entre los trabajadores de la areas rurales de Bolivia(Background paper prepared for the ILO, Oct. 2000).

Box 4.1Land titling: “From slavery to democracy”

A recent study for the Inter-American DevelopmentBank observes that a large-scale land demarcation andtitling project in the Ucayali region of Peru securedland titling for over 160 native communities by 1995.This covered over 1.5 million hectares in contiguousterritorial areas, benefiting over 20,000 indigenous in-

habitants.39 And independent studies show how theland titling programmes have paved the way for sus-tainable economic and social development, in whatone analyst has termed a transition “from slavery todemocracy”.40



Practices unveiled through ILO supervisory procedures

64. In the early 1980s an ILO Commission of Inquiry concluded that forcedlabour had been exacted from all categories of Haitian workers, and that in thecase of the annually contracted workers the Governments of both Haiti andthe Dominican Republic bore responsibility.44 It was revealed that if Hai-tian workers left the plantation to which they had been assigned before the endof the harvest season, the action taken by the employer and the authorities fre-quently consisted of forcible return of the workers to their place of work. As lateas 1996, Dominican trade union organizations continued to allege forced la-bour practices.45

65. The Government of the Dominican Republic has taken a number ofsteps to improve the situation:� moving against intermediaries who were engaged in improper

recruitment;� introducing written contracts of employment;� agreeing with the trade unions to provide for observers when the sugar

cane is weighed;� changing the ticket system from a monthly to a weekly basis;� assigning labour inspectors directly to the six plantations concerned,

with an emphasis on the supervision of working hours and wagepayments; and

� revising the Labour Code, with ILO assistance, taking into account thepast difficulties encountered.

By the year 2000 it was clear that the number of Haitians entering theDominican Republic on an annually contracted basis for the harvest was di-minishing in favour of a huge flow of undocumented migrants. By mostaccounts, there has been a reduction in direct coercion against imported Hai-tian migrant workers in recent years. This may be attributed in part to the de-clining importance of the sugar industry as a source of foreign exchange, andalso to its structural changes.46 But to a great extent some of the changes havebeen spurred by the concern shown by the ILO and its constituents in identify-

44 Following an initial complaint against the two governments in 1981, alleging the non-observanceof both of the ILO’s forced labour Conventions, this case has long attracted the attention of the ILO’ssupervisory bodies. The allegations covered several different categories of Haitian migrant workersin the Dominican Republic, namely: Haitian workers under recruiting contracts concluded annuallybetween the State Sugar Board of the Dominican Republic and the Government of Haiti; Haitianworkers who entered the Dominican Republic illegally in search of work; and Haitian workersresident in the Dominican Republic, in most cases without legal status. See ILO: “Report of the Com-mission of Inquiry to examine the observance of certain international labour Conventions by theDominican Republic and Haiti with respect to the employment of Haitian workers on the sugarplantations of the Dominican Republic”, Official Bulletin, Special Supplement, Vol. LXVI, Series B(Geneva, 1983).45 See Report of the Committee of Experts, 1998, referring to comments on the application of Con-vention No. 105 submitted by several Dominican trade unions.

Box 4.2New Dominican Republic-Haiti agreement on labour contracting

The Governments of the Dominican Republic andHaiti, on 23 February 2000, signed a declaration onthe contract conditions applicable to their nationals,with a view to suppressing clandestine recruitmentand illegal migration. It calls for the conclusion of con-tracts of employment in conformity with the nationallaw of the receiving country and applicable interna-

tional conventions. The accord also foresees a systemof work permits and measures to combat illegal immi-gration. The parties agree to protect migrant workerson an equal footing with nationals. In addition, theyhave agreed to promote information campaigns toprevent these workers from falling prey to exploita-tion, trafficking or illegal activity.



ing the problem and pushing for the elimination of forced labour on this Car-ibbean island. The political will of the governments involved has been vital forcontinuing the process as part of the development efforts.

Addressing forced labour in rural Brazil

66. Forced labour is concentrated in selected sectors. The Government ofBrazil is among those showing signs of taking the matter of forced labour seri-ously. Forced labour allegations have received much attention in Brazil over thepast decade. In many instances the practices can be attributed to abuse of la-bour contracting systems, in a country where there is widespread recourse tothese contractors (known locally as empreiteros or gatos). On a number of occa-sions since the 1980s both Brazilian and international trade unions have allegedthat thousands of workers, including children and young persons, are subjectedto forced labour in various sectors of the economy.

67. Instances of forced labour have related on the whole to mining and to sea-sonal work in forest clearance, charcoal production, and a range of agriculturalactivities including cane-cutting, grass-seed sowing, and cotton and coffee har-vests. The seasonal work takes several forms. First there are the migratorymovements from state to state within Brazil, in which workers are effectivelytrafficked by gato intermediaries from areas with deep pockets of poverty af-fected by seasonal unemployment or drought. They are ferried in trucks orbuses to destination sites hundreds or thousands of kilometres away from theirhomes.

68. Second there are the unskilled rural workers known in Brazil as the peao-de-trecho, who have become caught up in the cycle of debt bondage, have lostcontact with their families and are in continual transit from one exploitative la-bour situation to another. They become dependent on hostels where they staybetween jobs, and where alcohol consumption is rife. Such hostels may serve asrecruitment points, working in league with the gatos. Hostels can sell the work-ers’ debts to the gatos, who take the workers to the agricultural estates. Breakingthe cycle of the peao-de-trecho has proved particularly difficult. Many of thosefreed from situations of forced labour have had no alternative than to return tothe hostels and accept similar offers from the gatos.

69. A third type has concerned the involvement of entire families in charcoalproduction. These families have moved to areas of tree-felling, building kilns toburn the wood and transform it into charcoal, which is then sold to intermedi-aries for pig iron and steel production. The remoteness of the areas, in whichfamilies are dependent on intermediaries for food and transport, once againcreates the conditions for fraud and debt bondage. The mobility of charcoalworkers makes it particularly difficult for inspection services to monitor their la-bour conditions.

Indigenous peopleat high risk

70. Finally, indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to coercive labourconditions when outside their own communities. Though indigenous people ac-count for an infinitely smaller proportion of the labour force of Brazil than insome neighbouring Latin American countries, their conditions of recruitmenthave been a cause of concern for labour inspection services.

71. The main feature of forced labour in Brazilian rural areas is the use of thedebt mechanism to immobilize workers on estates until they can pay off debtswhich are often fraudulently incurred. It is a clandestine and illegal activity, dif-

46 The Dominican Government has reported that many migrant workers of Haitian nationality arenow employed in the construction and agricultural sectors.



ficult to combat because of various factors — not least of which are the immensesize of the country and the difficulty of communications. Constraints on ruralworkers have included the imposition of debts for transport, food and workingtools; the retention of identity documents and work papers; and the use of phys-ical threats and punishment by armed guards, including in some cases the kill-ing of those who attempted to flee.

72. Moreover, according to federal inspection teams, some 80 per cent ofthose persons rescued from situations of forced labour have no officialdocuments, birth certificates or identity papers. They may not figure in officialpopulation statistics, or be addressed by any of the Government’s social pro-grammes, and tend to be illiterate.

Dimensions of forced labour: Available statistics

73. Official statistics are available regarding the workers rescued from forcedlabour situations in Brazil during federal labour inspection raids. Inevitably,these cannot capture the full dimensions of the problem. Table 4.1 indicates theoperations of the Special Mobile Labour Inspection Unit over the 1995-2000period, covering the number of operations, workers rescued, and arrests made.

74. Between 1980 and 1991, the Brazilian Association of Labour Inspectors(AGITRA) documented 3,144 cases of persons subjected to forced labour on 32estates in the southern part of the State of Pará. AGITRA observed at the timethat forced labour was increasing enormously in the country, while labour in-spection was dwindling. Despite the deficiencies in official statistics, the overallnumber of those caught up in forced labour may have diminished over the pastdecade. Current operations to free workers from conditions of forced labour inforest clearances, for example, have encountered far smaller numbers than inthe past. The many obstacles to be surmounted before a complaint is actedupon may explain why official statistics on rescued workers can underestimatethe gravity of a far larger phenomenon.

Table 4.1. Brazil: Operations carried out by the Special Mobile LabourInspection Unit, 1995-2000

A range of government initiatives to fight forced labour

75. The Government of Brazil has taken a series of measures since the early1990s to combat forced labour in agricultural and forestry activities in the Am-azon and other remote regions. In 1992 a Programme for the Eradication ofForced Labour (PERFOR) was established, under which agreements for coop-eration were signed between different institutions. In 1995 a more systematicprogramme of action was undertaken through the Executive Group for Curb-ing Forced Labour (GETRAF), an interministerial body.47

Year No. of operations

No. of raids in which workers were rescued

No. of workers rescued

No. of arrests

1995 12 3 150 11

1996 28 2 288 0

1997 21 1 220 0

1998 18 6 119 2

1999 19 7 639 2

Jan.-July 2000 11 4 418 0

Total 109 23 1,834 15

Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment, Brazil, August 2000.



76. A further government initiative has been the creation of a Special MobileInspection Unit at national level, to respond to denunciations of forced labour.This Mobile Unit was set up following recognition of the political pressures onlocal regional inspection teams, which had prevented them from respondingadequately to denunciations. Local labour inspectors were considered to bemore vulnerable to security risks when following up allegations of forced labour.

77. The Special Mobile Unit was therefore established within the Labour In-spection Secretariat of the Ministry of Labour.48 Regular evaluations of the op-erations of this Unit have pointed to two main criteria for effectiveness:� centralized organization; and� absolute secrecy in planning.

Any attempts to decentralize activities have proved unsuccessful, in that newsof inspection raids has invariably reached landowners in advance, enablingthem to disperse workers or to cover up the situation.

State and local initiatives complement federal efforts

78. The investigative work of the federal Special Mobile Inspection Unit hasalso been picked up on at the local and state level. The municipality of VilaRica, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, set up a commission with the partic-ipation of the Mayor’s office and municipal council, and the agricultural pro-ducers’ and rural workers’ organizations. Upon receiving forced labourallegations, the commission has negotiated with local landowners and interme-diaries. The very threat of calling in the Mobile Unit, and the prospect of fines,tended to facilitate negotiations. The Mobile Unit was only brought in if suchnegotiations broke down. State-level efforts to combat forced labour have alsobeen important (see box 4.3).

Action by workers’ organizations

79. Brazilian trade unions have also played their role in raising awarenessabout forced labour, and in creating support mechanisms. A study of rural mi-gration carried out by the Agricultural Workers’ Federation in 1995-96, sup-ported by the Ministry of Labour together with the UNDP, highlighted the riskof migrant workers being caught up in situations of forced labour. In Piaui Statethe Rural Workers’ Union of Pimenteiras, after securing the rescue of some 50workers from forced labour conditions on a sugar plantation in the late 1980s,set about preventing a recurrence. It negotiated with the recruiting agents forthe gatos that no one would leave the town without having their names and iden-tity numbers, as well as the details of the gatos themselves, being registered withthe local police. In the early 1990s a similar monitoring of departure points andvehicles leaving the region was attempted by the Rural Workers’ Trade Unionin Feira de Santana, State of Bahia; this was prompted after workers from thisregion had been rescued from forced labour conditions on sugar plantations inthe State of Mato Grosso do Sul.49

80. At the national level, in the mid-1990s, after the president of the SingleCentral Organization of Workers (CUT) had raised forced labour concerns in

47 GETRAF is coordinated by the Ministry of Labour, with representatives from several othergovernment agencies and the Federal Police. While GETRAF’s mandate includes the coordinationof major programmes for the prevention of forced labour, its activities and meetings appear to havefallen off in recent years.48 Located in the federal capital of Brasilia, it currently has four regional coordinators responsiblefor planning and leading operations. These in turn select labour inspectors from offices throughoutthe country to take part in operations. Operations are of two types. First, there are inspections ofparticular geographical areas or sectors, based on the previous incidence of forced labour, and fore-seen in annual planning. Second, emergency operations are undertaken in response to denun-ciations. Due to current resource and capacity limitations, priority has been given to the latter.49 Between 1997 and 1998 it undertook over 130 inspection visits in charcoal batteries, sugar canedistilleries, and the cotton and grass-seed harvests, and also participated in numerous negotiationsand follow-up meetings.



media events, the CUT established a national “slavery hotline” for workers tocall to denounce conditions of forced labour. The few denunciations receivedwere passed to the Ministry of Labour and the federal police for investigation.However, in the absence of sustained actions at the local level and capacity tofollow up the action taken by the authorities, this “slavery hotline” did not yieldthe expected results and was eventually suspended. The CUT and its affiliateshave nevertheless sustained their actions on forced labour in the States of MatoGrosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Civil society and religious groups have alsolaunched campaigns against forced labour in Brazil (see box 4.4).

Tougher laws,but enforcement remains elusive

81. The Brazilian Government has recently enacted new legislation topenalize more effectively various aspects of “degrading labour”, which includesthe concept of forced labour.50 Yet despite these measures, very few persons ex-acting forced labour seem to have been penalized. Though over 600 peoplewere freed from conditions of forced labour by the mobile inspection teams in1999, only two individuals were reportedly arrested for resorting to forced la-bour. While the Government has mentioned the need for really severe sanc-tions, evidence of this is slight. The impunity enjoyed by those responsible, theslowness of judicial processes, and the lack of coordination among the govern-mental bodies end up protecting those responsible for exacting forced labour inBrazil as elsewhere. Moreover, in the few cases where persons responsible forexacting forced labour have been convicted, they appear to have been interme-diaries or small owners rather than the owners of large estates or enterprises.

82. The non-enforcement of legislation limiting the percentage of paymentthat a worker may be paid in kind, or the amount of credit that can be takenout in the employer’s on-site store, also sometimes lead to a situation of forcedlabour. This has occurred with members of the largely illiterate and non-nu-merate Enxet ethnic group in Paraguay, for instance, who have been trappedin situations of debt bondage with ranchers. Beginning in 1994, some havebrought legal proceedings against their employers for unpaid and underpaidwages. While the courts may provide some relief, top priority must go to creat-ing economic and social conditions that impede and discourage forced labourfrom happening in the first place.

50 Act No. 9777 of December 1998 amends certain sections of the Brazilian Penal Code, whichalready provides for sanctions for reducing someone to a “condition analogous to slavery”. Penal-ties of imprisonment are increased for anyone who endangers the life or health of another personas a consequence of transporting workers illegally for the purpose of subjecting them to illegal la-bour practices. Penalties of imprisonment are imposed on anyone who forces workers to use orconsume a certain product, or to oblige them contracting a debt preventing them from leaving theiremployment when they so wish. There are further penalties for anyone who fraudulently recruitsworkers from outside the locality in which the work will be performed, or fails to return the workerto his or her place of origin.

Box 4.3Local initiatives to combat forced labour: Targeting charcoal production

In the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, the PermanentCommission of Investigation, Inspection and Controlof Working Conditions, established in 1993, hasachieved a significant reduction in the incidence ofdebt bondage in charcoal camps. It is comprised ofgovernmental organizations, trade unions, churchgroups and NGOs. The approach of the Commissionhas combined investigation of debt bondage situations,

awareness raising and social mobilization, and also ju-dicial follow-up.49 Combining inspection and law en-forcement with coordinated interventions forimproving family incomes and children’s educationhas been responsible for its success. Since 1995 theCommission has received support from the ILO’s IPECprogramme for its work on the eradication of childlabour.



5. Domestic workers in forced5. labour situations

Domestic workers may fall prey to forced labour

83. Working largely in the sphere of private households, domestic workers“experience a degree of vulnerability that is unparalleled to that of otherworkers”.51 Domestic work per se is of course not forced labour. But it candegenerate into forced labour when debt bondage or trafficking is involved – orwhen the worker is physically restrained from leaving the employer’s homeor has his or her identity papers withheld. In a variety of countries, the plight ofwomen domestic workers in forced labour situations has grabbed headlines; thishas particularly been the case regarding domestic workers employed in theMiddle East.52 The worst situations involve violence, sometimes extending torape and/or torture.

84. When the domestic workers are international migrants, the problems arecompounded further.53 Isolated but shameful cases of diplomats and interna-tional civil servants engaging in such improper practices have at least served todraw media attention to the plight of domestic servants who have been held insituations akin to slavery. In France, for instance, the Comité contre l’Escla-vage Moderne (Committee against Modern Slavery), which cooperates with theFrench Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), has “revealed a situationthat was hidden and given it a name”.54 Even under less dramaticcircumstances, working in forced labour circumstances can be particularlyharmful, as when, primarily in developing countries, most often girls and some-times boys spend long days toiling in private households instead of attendingschool. This phenomenon tends to be most common in urban areas, withchildren having been lured from poor rural areas – as reported in Benin(100,000 children), Côte d’Ivoire (no figures) and Haiti (250,000 children).55

51 A. Blackett: Making domestic work visible: The case for specific regulation, Labour Law and LabourRelations Branch (ILO, Geneva, 1998), p. 5. See also M.-L. Vega Ruiz, “Relación laboral al servicio delhogar familiar en América Latina”, in Relasur (Montevideo) No. 3, 1994, pp. 35-51.52 ILO: Migrant workers, Report III (Part IB), General Survey on the reports on the Migration forEmployment Convention (Revised), (No. 97), and Recommendation (Revised) (No. 86), 1949, andthe Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention (No. 143), and Recommendation(No. 151), 1975, International Labour Conference, 87th Session, Geneva, 1999; P. Stalker: The workof strangers: A survey of international labour migration (Geneva, ILO, 1994), pp. 109-110.53 E. Chaney and M. García Castro: Muchachas no more (Philadelphia, Temple, 1989); R. Torrealba:Trabajadoras migrantes en el servicio domestico en Venezuela, World Employment Programme,Geneva, Working Paper MIG WP 71S, 1992; ILO: Filipino migrant women in domestic work in Italy,World Employment Programme, Geneva, Working Paper MIG WP 53, 1991.54 ICFTU: “Slavery in the year 2000”, in: Trade Union World (Brussels) No. 11, Nov. 2000, p.6.

Box 4.4“ Keep your eye out for slave labour”

In several northern states of Brazil, the (Catholic)Church Land Commission has distributed a small pocketfolder entitled “Keep your eye out for slave labour”.It uses cartoons to explain slavery-like situations, andalso contains the telephone numbers of the Ministry of

Labour, Federal Police, and local rural workers’ trade un-ions. A similar practice has now been adopted by theSpecial Mobile Inspection Unit, which hands out foldersto each worker encountered during its inspection raids.



Even adult domestic workers are subject to the same fraudulent and coerciverecruiting practices as those faced by rural workers, and themselves often comefrom the countryside.

85. Once on the job, domestic workers tend to work in isolation, creatingample opportunity for disregarding labour legislation, if it applies to them in thefirst place. Indeed, domestic workers suffer prejudice on account of their fre-quent exclusion from the coverage of labour legislation (in developed and devel-oping countries alike) and the obstacles they face in exercising freedom ofassociation.56 This combination makes it all the more difficult for them toextract themselves from situations involving forced or compulsory labour.Some countries, such as Switzerland, have adopted special legislation oradministrative measures intended to provide proper contracts of employmentfor domestic workers as a means of avoiding such a fate.57

55 ILO: Review of annual reports under the Declaration, 2001; and Ministry of Humanitarian Actionand Human Rights (France) and ILO: Vie d’esclaves (Geneva, 1994) (videocassette).56 The first Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration – ILO: Your voice at work, Reportof the Director-General, International Labour Conference, 88th Session, Geneva, 2000 – highlightedthis problem.57 A. Blackett, op. cit; and “Contrat-type de travail pour les travailleurs de l’économie domestique”in Receuil systématique de la législation genevoise (Geneva), JI 50.03, 18 Jan. 2000.


6. Bonded labour6. and its eradication

Defining bonded labour: Conceptual and policy concerns

86. Another form of forced labour which is still extensive is bonded labour.First of all, who is a bonded labourer? The term refers to a worker who rendersservice under conditions of bondage arising from economic considerations,notably indebtedness through a loan or advance. Where debt is the root causeof the bondage, the implication is that the worker (or dependants or heirs) is tiedto a particular creditor for a specified or unspecified period until the loan isrepaid. Thus legal intervention is required to declare such bondage unlawful,and to provide for sanctions against those landowners or other employers whohold their workers in bondage. And supplementary measures are normallyrequired, including economic assistance and rehabilitation, to assist the releasedworkers earn a livelihood and thereby ensure that they do not fall back into asituation of bondage.

87. The identification of bonded labourers has presented certain difficultiesthroughout the Asian region in particular. The legal definitions of both a bondedlabourer and a bonded labour system may be considered clear enough in such coun-tries as India and Pakistan, which have adopted specific legislation on thesubject, but that first step remains to be taken in other countries where the prob-lem also persists (e.g. Nepal).

Strugglingfor a contemporary understanding

88. There have been lengthy academic debates as to whether certain patternsof rural labour relations should be classified as “free” or “unfree”, in the light ofthe agrarian and social changes that have affected the region over the past fewdecades. Some analysts associate bonded labour with traditional patterns ofland-ownership, including the caste-based or personally bonded labour whichis secured by debt, and which can frequently extend across generations. Othersargue that bonded labour has also been a feature of recent trends in commercialagriculture, of both large and small scale, involving the debt-based attachmentof casual and migrant workers. As now recognized within the framework of theUnited Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, sustainable agricul-ture will not be possible without respect for fundamental principles and rightsat work. Moreover, much of the recent attention has been on the emergence of


forms of bonded labour outside the agricultural sector. Mines, brick kilns,leather, fish processing and carpet factories are among the industries wherebonded labour has been detected outside agriculture. At the heart of the issueis whether extra-economic coercion, in the form of physical restrictions andrequirements to provide paid or underpaid labour services, is a necessary con-dition for providing a worker as bonded; or whether factors of economic coer-cion should also be taken into account.

Sharecropping can display a varietyof features

89. Precarious forms of tenure such as sharecropping can also present difficul-ties. Sharecroppers receive earnings in kind as a proportion of the harvest,which can itself vary considerably. Under more favourable arrangements, theymight receive half or more of the harvest without any obligation to providetools, seeds or other inputs. Under less favourable arrangements, they may haveto furnish inputs, receive perhaps less than half of the produce, and also have toprovide different kinds of unpaid labour services to landowners in accordancewith demand.58 In this latter sense, sharecropping systems can have much incommon with the rural serfdom that has until recently been widespread in theIndian subcontinent and other developing regions, and that is sometimes inter-preted as a form of bonded labour.

90. And yet sharecropping, as other forms of share tenancy, may not neces-sarily be equated with poor working conditions, or any form of economic andextra-economic coercion. In the post-independence land reforms era, the “landfor the tiller” programmes of the South Asian region sought tenancy protectionand some limitations on private agrarian property through the imposition ofceilings on the size of individual land ownership. As in India, the land reformsenacted in different states after the 1950s aimed: first, at abolishing such inter-mediary tenures as the zamindari system; second, at providing security of tenureto tenants; and third, at imposing a ceiling on land-ownership. Direct tenants ofthe zamindar estates became the new owners, though other complex layers ofsub-tenancies and sharecropping were not affected by the reforms. However,while there has sometimes been a tendency in policy analysis to equate share-cropping with the perpetuation of “semi-feudal” conditions, these views havebeen quite widely challenged. As redistributive land reform has dropped offmost development agendas, tenancy and sharecropping have been viewedmore favourably — as steps on the “agricultural ladder” to full land-ownership.

The legal and institutional framework for eradicating bonded labour

Illustrations from three countries

91. Three of the countries in the region most affected by bonded labour,India, Nepal and Pakistan, have taken a number of important initiatives totackle the problem: legal measures, attempts to gain an idea of the numbersinvolved, and assessment of approaches used for release and rehabilitation. Inaddition, Bangladesh has indicated that its anti-poverty initiatives includeintentions to strictly enforce legislation penalizing the exaction of forced orcompulsory labour, and Sri Lanka has announced that it wishes to undertakean assessment of the compatibility of domestic legislation with internationalstandards on forced labour.59 As illustrations, three of these initiatives areexamined more closely.

58 The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has estimated that generallythroughout Asia the sharecropper will pay 50 or even 100 per cent of the input cost plus 100 percent of labour cost (including own labour) and receive between 35 and 50 per cent of the output.See: The state of world rural poverty (Rome, IFAD, 1992).59 Government report under ILO: Review of annual reports under the Declaration, 2001.


India adopted its key Act on bonded labour in 1976

92. In India, article 23 of the Constitution prohibits traffic in human beings,begar,60 and other forms of forced labour. Following its adoption, laws were ori-ginally enacted at the state level to eradicate bonded labour systems. Sub-sequently the important federal law, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition)Act, was adopted in February 1976.61 Responsibility for its implementation lieswith the individual states. Vigilance committees set up under the Act at bothdistrict and subdivisional levels have played an important role in economic andsocial rehabilitation, monitoring the number of offences of which cognizancehas been taken under the Act, making surveys of the incidence of such offences,and defending any suit against a freed bonded labourer for the recovery of anybonded debt.62 The vigilance committees have also conducted surveys for iden-tification and enumeration of the bonded labour system.

93. In the early 1980s, several judgements of the Indian Supreme Court fur-ther interpreted the concepts of forced labour and bonded labour.63 Overall,the logic of these rulings appears to be that no person would work for less thanthe legal minimum wage unless an element of coercion was involved. Yet theyprepare the ground for a considerable increase in the persons who might beconsidered as bonded labourers for the purposes of the Bonded Labour System(Abolition) Act. They may also have inspired other decisions involving forcedchild labour.

Pakistan adoptedits Act on bonded labour in 1992

94. In Pakistan, the Constitution similarly prohibits all forms of forcedlabour and traffic in human beings. Bonded labour was abolished by specificlegislation, when the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act was adopted bythe federal legislative body in 1992, and came into force immediately. TheBonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules were subsequently issued by the fed-eral Government in 1995. The Act contains many provisions similar to theIndian law. It also provides for penalties for the enforcement or exaction ofbonded labour under the bonded labour system, for the omission or failure torestore possession of property to the bonded labourer, and for abetting anoffence.

95. Vigilance committees set up under the Act at the district level consist ofelected representatives of the area, representatives of the district administration,law associations, press, recognized social services and labour departments of the

60 The term begar has not been defined as such in the Indian Constitution. In a subsequent casethe Supreme Court observed that begar was a “form of forced labour under which a person is com-pelled to work without receiving any remuneration”.61 This defines the bonded labour system as the “system of forced, or partly forced, labour underwhich a debtor enters into, or is presumed to have entered into, an agreement with the creditor”to the effect that the debtor might forfeit certain basic rights.62 For a more detailed review of the Act and its implementation procedures, see: L. Mishra: Burdenof bondage (New Delhi, Manak Publications, 1997); and Y. Reddy: Bonded labour system in India(New Delhi, Deep and Deep Publications, 1995).63 A 1982 judgement linked the concept of forced labour to the non-payment of the minimum wage.The court gave its opinion that, where a person provided labour or service to another for remu-neration less than the minimum wage, the labour or service fell clearly within the scope and ambitof the words forced labour under the Constitution. People’s Union for Democratic Rights versusUnion of India, AIR 1982, S.C. 1473 (known as the Asiad Workers’ Case). In a 1984 judgement, ina response to a petition concerning bonded labour in stone quarries, the court ruled that, “When-ever it is shown that a labourer is made to provide forced labour, the court would raise a presump-tion that he is required to do so in consideration of an advance or other economic considerationreceived by him and is therefore a bonded labourer”. Such presumption could be rebutted by theemployer or state government, but failing the production of satisfactory evidence for such rebuttalthe court would proceed on the basis that the labourer was a bonded labourer entitled to the benefitof the provisions of the Act. Bandhua Mukti Morcha versus Union of India, AIR 1984, S.C. 802. Andin a further judgement the same year the Supreme Court ruled that whenever a person was forcedto provide labour for no remuneration or nominal remuneration, the presumption would be thatthis was a bonded labourer unless the employer or state government was in a position to proveotherwise. Neeraja Choudary versus State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1984, S.C. 1099.


federal and provincial governments. Their functions are to advise the districtadministration on implementation of the law, help in rehabilitation of freedbonded labourers, keep an eye on the working of the law, and provide bondedlabourers with such assistance as may be necessary to achieve the objectives ofthe law.

In July 2000, Nepal ordered kamaiya bondage to be stopped

96. Until recently, there had been no initiative to adopt specific legislation onbonded labour in Nepal though the 1990 Constitution prohibits slavery, serf-dom and forced labour in any form. Following intensified civil society pressuresince the early 1990s, on 17 July 2000 the Government of Nepal by CabinetDecision declared the kamaiya system of bonded labour eradicated, with imme-diate effect. The kamaiya system comprises a long-term rural labour relationshipbetween the farm worker and landowner, and affects only the disadvantagedTharu ethnic group in several districts of the Terai region of western Nepal.One week later, the Government constituted a central level coordination andmonitoring committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister,as well as district level coordination and monitoring committees, to identify andrehabilitate the emancipated kamaiyas.64 The Government is now working onfurther legislative and other measures.

Estimating the numbers

How wide to castthe net?

97. The first difficulty in determining the population to be measured is relatedto the fact that land-holding and land-use patterns tend to be common to bothbonded and non-bonded labour. A very preliminary study in Pakistan, thatexamines areas of the province of Sind characterized by sharecropping tenant-farming patterns, brings out some of the problems of identifying and chartingbonded labour.65 For example, a common practice of exchange of services inlieu of pay termed begar is fairly common among sharecropping tenant farmers,as it is in other parts of South Asia — although it is termed differently. Thistypically implies unpaid work by the tenant farmer for the landowner at peakseasons, linked to particular operations such as harvesting or weeding, whichmay be agreed upon in advance. Such work, however, in turn involves boththose workers that are indebted in a bonded labour sense to the landowner aswell as those that are not. The matter is further complicated by the fact thatbeing indebted to a landowner does not automatically imply bondage — nei-ther does recourse to non-institutional debt. Ascertaining the source, purposeand conditions of the debt is of prime importance. Therefore, recourse to seem-ingly easy short-cuts, such as using debt among tenant farmers as a proxy forbonded labour, would be rife with pitfalls. There seems to be little alternativeto surveys with a direct count of bonded labour, with a rigorous methodologythat accounts for some of the issues raised here and elsewhere in this report.66

Official and unofficial figures

98. In India surveys undertaken at either national or state level have pro-duced some official results. A joint survey undertaken by the Gandhi PeaceFoundation and the National Labour Institute in 1978-79 estimated a total of2,617,000 bonded labourers in the ten states surveyed. A more recent reportsubmitted to the Supreme Court in October 1995 by the Commission onBonded Labour in Tamil Nadu estimated some 1,250,000 bonded labourers inthe State of Tamil Nadu alone.

64 ILO Review of annual reports under the Declaration, 2000, p. 218; see also Governing Body doc.279/LILS/4, Appendix 2, 279th Session (Geneva, 2000).65 A. Ercelawn and M. Nauman, Bonded labour in Pakistan: An overview (background paper pre-pared for the ILO, Aug. 2000).66 ibid.


Discrepanciesin figures

99. In 1989 the National Commission on Rural Labour commissioned astudy group on bonded labour, organized by the National Academy of Admin-istration, to examine various issues related to the bonded labour system, includ-ing statistical problems.67 This group commented on the large discrepanciesbetween the high estimates of the Gandhi Peace Foundation’s sample survey,and the far lower estimates in the surveys of state governments.68 Yet the inci-dence of bonded labour recorded by state governments more than doubledbetween 1980 and 1989. States including Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra,which had until 1980 denied the existence of bonded labour, subsequentlyreported its existence. In these three states, bonded labourers were identifiedmainly through the efforts of NGO activists.

100. The federal Government of India has regularly provided statistics of thebonded labourers who have been identified, released and rehabilitated by theindividual states. Up to March 1999, 290,340 bonded labourers had been iden-tified by the state governments; of these, 243,375 had been released and reha-bilitated, some 20,000 had either died or migrated to other parts, and 17,000were in the process of being rehabilitated. Action has often been taken underthe Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and Supreme Court direc-tives. Yet the difficulty of collecting reliable statistics on bonded labour has beenopenly recognized by the Government of India.

The task of identifying bonded labourersin Nepal

101. In Nepal, the Government’s statistical surveys of bonded labour havefocused on the kamaiya system of western Nepal. A kamaiya agrees to work for aparticular landowner on the basis of an oral contract for generally one year.Payment can either be in kind as a fixed volume of grain, supplemented byother foodstuffs including lentils, oilseed and salt; or it can take the form of anoutput share on sharecropped land — the kamaiya’s output share typically beingone-third of the crop.

102. There can also be interlinked contracts. Under a verbal contract to per-form labour, the kamaiya is expected to bring other family members to work forthe landowner. The second verbal contract is for credit to meet emergencies,food shortages and consumption requirements encountered by the kamaiya. Thekamaiya may be tied to one landowner for years or decades, through an accu-mulated debt burden. Alternatively, a different landowner may offer to takeover the debt in order to secure a kamaiya’s services. The third type of contractis for land rentals, though by no means have all kamaiyas had access to land fortheir own use.69

103. With Nepal’s first agricultural reform in the 1960s, a ceiling was fixed onindividual landholdings in the major agricultural area where the Tharu live.While the reforms appear to have led to very limited land redistribution (only1.5 per cent of all agricultural land),70 it has meant that in general the landhold-ings that utilize bonded labour are not large. The Tharu ethnic group involvedin the kamaiya system numbered approximately 1.2 million in the early 1990s.Since not all incur debt, bondage as such is not universal among the kamaiyas. Astudy for the ILO has estimated that some half of all kamaiyas are under debtbondage, while almost 10 per cent of them are bonded over generations.71 Sur-

67 Study Group on Bonded Labour, conducted by National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie,for the National Commission on Rural Labour, April 1991.68 In states including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu andUttar Pradesh, the figures provided by the state governments were less than 15 per cent of those inthe Gandhi Peace Foundation’s survey.69 For a more detailed explanation see: S. Sharma et al.: The kamaiya system in Nepal (New Delhi,ILO, South Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team, 1998).70 See: German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Land tenure in Nepal: Status and main issues (1999).71 S. Sharma, op. cit.


veys mentioned earlier provide a picture of a largely illiterate, landless people,easily at risk of falling back into debt.

Fresh survey of kamaiyas under way

104. In collaboration with the ILO’s IPEC programme, the Governmentundertook a comprehensive survey of the kamaiya system and population in1995, based on door-to-door visits.72 However, the Government indicated inmid-2000 that the 1995 survey may have underestimated the true number ofkamaiyas, and a fresh survey and identification of emancipated kamaiyas is cur-rently being undertaken73 to supplement other surveys.74 A further issue iswhether bonded labour is to be found more generally in areas outside westernNepal where the kamaiya system has been detected and studied. There is reasonto suspect that debt-bondage affects certain castes in many caste-based ruralcommunities.

Eradicating bonded labour: The practical experience

105. The longest experience is clearly to be found in India, where a quarterof a century has passed since the first federal law to abolish bonded labour wasadopted. Pakistan has a decade of experience, and in Nepal the initiatives arenow seriously under way. Other countries do not seem to have owned up to thefact that they may face a problem. There are lessons to be learned from theexperience of each of these three countries that have already taken steps.

Experience in India, 1976-2000106. The Government of India has at length described its extensive efforts toeradicate bonded labour in statements to the International Labour Conference.These have involved: conducting fresh surveys to identify bonded labour; mak-ing arrangements after identification — including the issue of release certifi-cates; repatriating in the case of migrant workers; initiating action against thoseemployers responsible under the provisions of the law; and rehabilitatingbonded labourers.75

Special division set up to pursue an integrated approach

107. As regards rehabilitation, the per capita scale of assistance for rehabilita-tion of freed bonded labourers has recently been doubled. Resources have beenpooled from different programmes (including anti-poverty, rural employment,and rural youth training programmes), to achieve an integrated approach foran effective and permanent rehabilitation. Moreover, the central Government

72 This identified 15,152 kamaiya families, or a total population of 83,375, of whom 62.7 per centhad fallen prey to the debts known locally as sauki.73 Ministry of Land Reform and Management: Proposal on immediate action for rescue and rehabi-litation of recently emancipated kamaiya labourers of western Nepal (Kathmandu, Nepal, 2000) (un-published document).74 On the basis of a sample survey of some 3,000 kamaiyas from eight districts in mid-1997, theInformal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) reported that there were at the time 26,000 adult males,1,500 women and 5,000 children working under the kamaiya system. S. Sharma and M. Thakurathi:A revisit to the kamaiya system of Nepal (Kathmandu, INSEC, 1998). The Department of Land ReformStudy in 1995 found that 14.1 per cent of the Tharu population in the five districts covered werekamaiyas; 62.7 per cent of the kamaiyas had fallen into debt, on average amounting to the equi-valent of about US$75. Of the kamaiyas, 83.9 per cent were illiterate and 72 per cent had no landfor cultivation.75 During 1998-99, 5,960 bonded labourers were rehabilitated under a centrally sponsored schemein the States of Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Senior officials were designated in thecourse of 1998 and 1999 to visit certain areas, and to review and monitor progress being made bythe state governments in the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976,and the Bonded Labour Rehabilitation Scheme, 1978.


has initiated a centrally sponsored scheme for assisting bonded labourers, andhas established a division within the Ministry of Labour to monitor, coordinateand supervise implementation of the programme. It has also simplified the pro-cedures for approving grants and subsidies, delegating authority to the provin-cial level.

108. Despite these achievements, the Government of India has recognizedthe difficulties in tackling the problems of bonded labour, and the need to inten-sify efforts. The reasons it has cited for this include a lack of sensitivity and willto deal with the problem — particularly at the lower levels of public adminis-tration — and a shortage of resources at all levels for the total eradication ofbonded labour.

The Indian Supreme Court has played a key role

109. The move to eradicate bonded labour in India appears to have under-gone different phases over the past quarter of a century; indeed, it has beenhigher on economic, political and also legal agendas in some periods than inothers. Following the adoption of the 1976 Act, the movement against bondedlabour clearly received an impetus from the public interest litigation approachadopted by the Supreme Court in the early 1980s. Its landmark judgementsprovided new insights into the nature and magnitude of the problem. The sub-sequent creation of a task force through the National Human Rights Commis-sion furthered the process of identification, release and rehabilitation of bondedlabourers. In 1997, the Supreme Court directed the National Human RightsCommission to oversee and supervise the implementation of the 1976 Act, andthe progress made by the state governments in this regard.76

The Commissionerfor Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been active in awareness raising

110. An important awareness-building role in the 1980s was also played bythe Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The reports ofthe Commissioner have tended to contain a special section on bonded labour,particularly as it affects the situation of scheduled castes and tribes, and to for-mulate recommendations both to the Government and society at large.77

Between 1987 and 1991, the National Commission on Rural Labour also con-stituted study groups on bonded labour and rural labour indebtedness. Thesestudies did much to establish the extent and nature of rural debt, its purpose andsources, as well as its particular incidence among scheduled castes and sched-uled tribes.78 The elimination of bonded labour has very much been seen as anissue for development.

Findings of the National Commission on Rural Labour

111. The Study Group on Bonded Labour of the National Commission onRural Labour pointed to certain deficiencies in the rehabilitation schemes thathad previously been implemented. There had been wrongful identification ofbonded labourers in order to gain access to rehabilitation funds. Furthermore,rehabilitation schemes had not improved the conditions of bonded labourers,in that many former bonded labourers were still paying their former masters theremaining amount of borrowed money which according to law stood extin-guished.

112. The vigilance committees, though a potent mechanism for eradicatingbonded labour, had not — according to the study group’s findings — been ableto function effectively. They generally lapsed after a couple of years, and werenot reconstituted for a long time. The states with a high incidence of bonded

76 Order given on 11 November 1997 in Writ of Petition No. 3922/85.77 See for example: Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,29th Report, 1987-89. This report addressed issues including the partial implementation of the law,land rights and bonded labour, bonded labour on plantations, and bonded labour in mines. Thereports appear not to have been produced on a regular basis over the past decade.78 Study Group on Rural Labour Indebtedness, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Novem-ber 1990.


labour were yet to activate the vigilance committees. Fresh identification ofbonded labourers had, moreover, almost stopped in recent years.

113. The study group also found that, although over 240,000 bonded labourershad been officially identified in the country, only a very modest number of773 keepers of bonded labour had been arrested. Punishments were handed outto a still smaller group after conviction. The Study Group on Bonded Labourmade a significant number of recommendations that remain highly relevant(see box 6.1).

Only employment yields lasting freedom

114. The study group pointed out that rehabilitation schemes that did not gobeyond temporary relief, provided as cash or at best as temporary assets, merelyattracted undesirable elements who skimmed off the benefits. Only employ-ment guarantees and land for peasants could provide lasting protections forreleased bonded labourers. The state Government of Andhra Pradesh hadstarted a novel scheme of purchasing cultivable land, developing it with irriga-tion facilities, and granting it to the released bonded labourers. Benefits underother anti-poverty programmes supplemented these measures.79

115. Concerning the more recent trends in bonded labour, there are sugges-tions that the incidence of new bonded labour may be particularly serious in thesmall and informal industrial sector, as in the brick kilns.80

79 Study Group on Bonded Labour, conducted by Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Admin-istration, Mussoorie, for the National Commission on Rural Labour, April 1991.80 United Nations: Contemporary forms of slavery, report of the Working Group on ContemporaryForms of Slavery, 25th session, New York, June 2000.

Box 6.1Recommendations of the Study Group on Bonded Labour

In its 1990 report, the Study Group on BondedLabour made a series of recommendations to theNational Commission on Rural Labour in India.These are summarized here:(1) conduct a countrywide survey, utilizing the

central and state official machineries, NGOs,activists and research institutions, to arrive at aprecise picture on the nature, prevalence andspread of bonded labour in India, with specialattention to migrant labourers, and workers innon-agricultural occupations;

(2) generate awareness and pressure, through anationwide programme for the education, mobi-lization and organization of bonded labourers;

(3) move identified bonded labourers to pro-tected camps soon after their release, andkeep them there at government expensepending development of concrete rehabilita-tion packages. Release proceedings should beconducted in open court in the village wherethe bonded labourer has been identified;

(4) increase the amount of compensation pro-vided by law. The state government should payany wage arrears to the bonded labourer, laterrecovering this amount from the ex-master;

(5) involve expanded and strengthened vigilancecommittees at various stages of the process;

(6) make efforts to organize bonded labourers atvarious levels, and set up training programmes;

(7) as part of rehabilitation, increase the protec-tion over land and other assets to which thebonded labourers have had access. Extend theprohibition on eviction to any land under cul-tivation by the bonded labourer and otherassets such as brick kilns, and prevent transferof the bonded labourer’s property to a thirdperson;

(8) since the predominant cause for lapsing intobondage for the rural poor is incurring debtslargely for consumption needs, direct the juris-dictional banks to provide consumption loansto the released and existing bonded labourers;

(9) provide employment guarantees for releasedbonded labourers; and

(10) improve both land-based and non-land-basedrehabilitation schemes. For bonded labour inagriculture, the ultimate solution is to securerehabilitation on land.


Becoming alertto the gender dimensionof bonded labour

116. There are also some indications that women may be increasinglyaffected by bonded labour in agriculture. A recent study in Andhra Pradeshargued that male agricultural labourers were the main beneficiaries of policiesencouraging the encroachment of government wasteland, subsidies on credit,productive assets and food, as well as non-agricultural employment generation.Employers thus had less control over the consumption and residence of maleworkers, enabling men to escape from traditional bonded labour relations. Menhad also delegated debt repayment to women both directly — and also indi-rectly — by shifting more of the responsibility for family provisioning ontowomen. As a consequence women had felt compelled to take up agriculturalwork, at whatever wages and conditions were offered. Women had also beenforced to take out tied loans to pay men’s debts when the men absconded, andto satisfy employers’ expectations of loyalty in order to have access to consump-tion credit in the future. It was argued furthermore that this had involved theirworking on employers’ or creditors’ farms at significantly lower tied wages, aswell as performing unpaid tasks throughout the season.81 Though these are thefindings of just one recent study in a single Indian state, the thesis is of sufficientimportance to merit more analysis.

Experience in Pakistan, 1992-2000

A focus on children 117. Official information on efforts to eradicate bonded labour over the pastdecade in Pakistan has emphasized the serious problems of child bondedlabour in that country, where some major research and action programmeshave been undertaken with the assistance of the ILO. An example is the agree-ment between the European Union and the ILO signed in May 1997 to fundtechnical cooperation projects aimed at: raising awareness on exploitative andhazardous child bonded labour practices; increasing the capacity to withdrawchildren from bondage and prevent them from entering bondage; and targetingchild-bonded labourers and their families in the context of overall rehabilitationprogrammes. Legal texts on child and bonded labour have also been translatedinto the Urdu and Sindhi languages.

The role of vigilance committees

118. As regards the practical implementation of the Bonded Labour System(Abolition) Act, 1992, and the 1995 Rules on the subject, the Government hasreported that the vigilance committees have been enlarged and strengthened.As observed at the 82nd Session of the International Labour Conference (1995),however, some of these committees might need to be further reinforced. TheAll-Pakistan Federation of United Trade Unions (APFUTU) has requested thattrade unions be involved directly in the vigilance committees, which are super-vised by the home departments of the provinces.

New sectors: An area for concern

119. In the absence of systematic surveys by either the federal or provincialgovernments to establish the magnitude and intensity of bonded labour, mostof the information available comes from academic research institutes, which inturn often consult NGOs. There is general agreement that the most seriousproblems of bonded labour are detected among sharecroppers in the provinceof Sind, and among brickmakers in Punjab.82 Analysts are also concerned thatbonded labour is gaining importance in other sectors such as fisheries and car-pet making. Fears are expressed that the rapid growth of the informal manufac-

81 L. da Corta and D. Venkateshwarlu, “Unfree relations and the feminization of agricultural labourin Andhra Pradesh, 1970-95” in: Journal of Peasant Studies (Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom) Vol. 26,Nos. 2/3, January/April 1999.82 For example, the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) estimates that approximately2,000 bonded labourers and their families were freed with its assistance from forced labour in brickkilns between January 1999 and May 2000.


turing sector, particularly in rural areas, may, while reducing the number of theunemployed, lead to the creation of more bonded labour.

The haris face a sorrowful plight

120. The most severe conditions of bondage have been detected among land-less tenants (known as haris) in lower Sind. A survey of seven hari camps in Sind,conducted in mid-2000, has tended to confirm the severity of conditionsencountered by bonded agricultural workers in this region. Shocking practiceshave been documented by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan(HRCP), which reported in 1999 that 2,300 persons had been released fromprivate jails during that year alone (see box 6.2).

The persistence of feudal practices

121. Rural Sind would therefore appear to be a classic example of a feudalsystem, where landowners have even gone on the offensive to defend thebonded labour system as integral to the culture of Sind as an agrarian society.They have reportedly disagreed that relations with their tenants are covered bythe bonded labour legislation, insisting that disputes over debt should behandled through the tenancy tribunals under the Tenancy Act. A factor con-tributing to this stance may have been the adverse economic pressures recentlyfaced by landowners, including rising input prices as subsidies have beenreduced.

122. Government initiatives have permitted released haris to set up shelters onstate land. Such camps have a temporary status, dependent for their security onthe goodwill of the local administration and neighbouring inhabitants. Devel-opment planning efforts like the country poverty strategy have not so far tar-geted bonded labour as a special category. While vigilance committees havebeen established (though in some cases for the first time in 1999, and only in afew districts), they have tended to act only after receiving complaints. TheGovernment has publicly announced its intention to finance specific pro-grammes addressing bonded and child labour.

123. In the meantime, human rights organizations, trade unions and otheractivist groups have expressed concern or taken initiatives by providing legalassistance for the release of bonded labourers; but the absence of collective bar-gaining for workers in the rural sector is an obstacle to trade union action.

Creating a physical refuge

124. To provide a safe haven for haris fleeing bondage, the Human RightsCommission of Pakistan (HRCP) has purchased a small piece of land in Sindprovince. Nearly 200 families — consisting of over 1,000 persons — had takenrefuge at the camp by mid-2000. While the haris have put up their own tradi-tional shelters, HRCP has contributed by installing hand pumps for drinkingwater. Religious groups in Sind have also helped provide land for a hari camp,together with financial assistance for immediate relief.

Box 6.2Abusive treatment of hari sharecroppers

The plight of the hari sharecroppers is grim. Underthe survey conducted in mid-2000 virtually all of theapproximately 1,000 respondents, stated that adultmen and women had been compelled to carry outforced labour (begar). For young children of eithersex, almost 90 per cent reported begar. Over three-quarters of respondents stated that they had beensubject to physical restraint, such as being locked up

at night or kept under guard. And almost all theharis in the camps stated that the men had beenseparated from other family members at night.There was also widespread reference to practices ofdetaining haris in private jails for periods as long assix or 12 months or more, of shackling them withchains or tying them up with ropes, and of sexualabuse of women.


125. Such measures may only be the beginning, however. An ILO study con-cluded recently that rapid economic growth, which includes jobs and higherwages along with urbanization, will need to accompany the elimination ofbonded labour in its entirety in Pakistan.83 In the meantime, enhanced govern-mental initiatives directed specifically to bonded labour could produce signifi-cant improvements.

Experience in Nepal, 1995-2000

Following upon the prohibitionof the kamaiyasystem

126. In relation to efforts to eradicate bonded labour, the recent experiencein Nepal is unique. Following a campaign in the early 1990s by NGOs, whichbrought national attention to the kamaiya system in western Nepal, the Govern-ment has demonstrated a strong commitment to abolish this system and torelease and rehabilitate all those affected. Following the Cabinet decision to banthe kamaiya system, in July 2000, the Government drew up detailed plans for anemergency rescue and rehabilitation programme for the families involved; thisis to be implemented first in a short-term emergency phase and subsequentlyover a three-year period.

Government has opted for a revolutionary approach

127. The Government has stated that its policies towards kamaiya emancipa-tion have moved from an “evolutionary” to a “revolutionary” approach. Ini-tially, it provided various kinds of support to kamaiyas, enabling them to pay offtheir debts, rather than abolishing the debts by law. From 1995 onwards itallocated the equivalent of around US$900,000 to a number of programmes toabolish the kamaiya system which focused on: the development of a revolvingfund for low-interest financing of income-generation activities; generation of afund for financing the settlement of homeless kamaiyas; training in diverse skills,including carpentry, masonry, electricity, animal husbandry and horticulture;and land distribution. In addition, a kamaiya Livelihood Programme, carried outby the Department of Land Reform, gave emphasis to social mobilization, skillsdevelopment, credit and training programmes. The Ministry of Labour alsocommenced a programme of skills development for kamaiya households, but thelimited results84 led the Government to judge this approach to be inadequatefor achieving full emancipation.

Ambitious short-term objectives

128. The Government’s Cabinet Decision to ban the kamaiya system reflectsa more radical approach. It has also adopted plans for an emergency rescue andrehabilitation programme for the kamaiya — to be implemented over a three-year period and administered by a Central Level Coordination and MonitoringCommittee. Local responsibility for its implementation will lie with district levelcoordination and monitoring committees. Ambitious short-term objectiveshave been set by the Government:� enactment of the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Bill, prepared with ILO

assistance;85

� rapid updating of the 1995 kamaiya survey record;� distribution of identity cards to all emancipated kamaiyas;� identification of government or public land suitable for distribution to the

landless kamaiyas;

83 A. Ercelawn and M. Nauman, op. cit.84 Only 3,736 kamaiyas received skills training, and only 1,056 secured their freedom.85 The Bill’s substantive provisions are largely similar to those found in the earlier legislation ofIndia and Pakistan. They provide for automatic redemption from bondage, invalidation of loan ordeed agreements, and return of property taken by the creditor to secure the debt. The institutionalarrangements foresee district welfare committees, which are to comprise central and local govern-ment officials, a representative from local banks, and persons appointed by the Government fromNGOs and trade unions. The Bill also provides for a welfare fund, a complaints and investigationmechanism through the welfare officer, as well as punishment and compensation.


� proposals for possible rescue and rehabilitation action once theemancipated kamaiyas have been identified; and

� implementation of both governmental and non-governmental social anddevelopment programmes in an integrated and coordinated manner.

Targeting the homeless and the landless first

129. In its immediate rescue and rehabilitation programme, the Governmenthas targeted first the homeless and the landless. The Government has called forinternational assistance — and the ILO has taken the lead locally to bringvarious international organizations and the donor community together so thatthey might cooperate in support of the Government’s initiatives. In its earlystages, the initial phases of the programme resemble a response to a natural dis-aster or emergency and concentrate on the need for basic items such as: foodsupport; tents and temporary roofing materials; minimum cooking utensils;ground sheets and blankets; medicines and minimum health care. Medium-term rehabilitation programmes have been envisaged to provide support forlow-cost housing, education and health care, installation of drinking water,employment-generation schemes and skills development, as well as micro-creditprogrammes.

ILO project supports government efforts

130. Responding to Nepal’s show of political will to stamp out bondedlabour, the ILO was to launch a major project in late 2000 with financial sup-port from the United States. This project will support labour-relatedmeasures, including training to rehabilitate an estimated 75,000 formerlybonded labourers to prevent them from sliding into other forms of exploitation(see box 6.3). An ILO role is also foreseen in building up organizational andbargaining skills as both the workers and landowners adjust to the condition offree labour. Furthermore, these efforts should be seen together with broadermeasures intended to improve workers’ living conditions in rural areas, to helpavoid a resurgence of debt bondage in this part of the world.

Box 6.3ILO project on the sustainable elimination of bonded labour

in Nepal

The InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declara-tion and the International Programme on the Elimi-nation of Child Labour (IPEC) have joined forces todesign a project that adopts an integrated approachto tackling problems faced by the extremely poor inwestern Nepal — an area where bonded labour hasexisted. The project, to be executed by the Govern-ment, employers’ and workers’ organizations aswell as NGOs, stresses capacity building; support for

effective enforcement of minimum agriculturalwages; awareness about rights; assistance to reinteg-rate kamaiya families into their communities; andeducation and training, both formal and informal.The project, one of a score being funded by theUnited States, will work closely with the ILO SocialFinance Unit’s subregional project on combatingdebt bondage through microfinance schemes.


7. An extreme case: Forced 7. labour exacted by the military

Strong measuresfor an extreme case

131. In contrast to situations in which governments are acknowledging theexistence of various forms of forced labour and making attempts to addressthem, a few countries basically reject the idea that there is such a problem. Thisperception has often coincided with the exaction of forced labour by the mili-tary and related authorities, as seen in Guatemala in the 1980s, for example,and under colonial regimes in the more distant past. Today the prime instanceof an extreme case of forced labour involves Myanmar, where the serious andwidespread incidence of forced labour has led the ILO to take unprecedentedaction under article 33 of its Constitution.

International Labour Conference and Governing Body to keep the matter under review

132. Decisions of the International Labour Conference and the ILO Govern-ing Body have instructed the ILO to:� keep the matter under review until Myanmar has fulfilled its

obligations under Convention No. 29, which it has ratified;� recommend to governments and organizations of employers and

workers that they review their relations with Myanmar and takeappropriate measures so that such relations do not perpetuate orextend the country’s system of forced or compulsory labour;

� contact international organizations to reconsider any cooperation theymay be engaged in with this country and if appropriate cease anyactivity that could directly or indirectly abet forced labour practices;

� request the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)to place on the agenda of its July 2001 session an item concerningMyanmar’s failure to implement earlier decisions;

� prepare a periodic report on the outcome of such measures and keepother international organizations informed.86

133. The situation in Myanmar has been extensively examined by the regularILO supervisory bodies, a Commission of Inquiry, the International Labour

86 Governing Body docs. GB.279/6/1; GB.279/6/1(Rev.1); GB.279/6/1(Add.2); GB.279/6/1(Add.3);GB.279/6/2, 279th Session (2000).


Conference and the ILO Governing Body;87 it will not therefore be reviewedhere. However, certain aspects of these forced labour practices — in so far asthey contribute to the “global picture” — deserve to be highlighted. They offersome lessons in relation to the provision of assistance for the eradication of allforms of forced and compulsory labour.

Forced labour burdens the population

134. The ILO Commission of Inquiry found abundant evidence of pervasiveuse of forced labour imposed on the civilian population by the authorities andthe military in Myanmar. Forced labour had been exacted for: portering; theconstruction and maintenance of military camps; other work in support of themilitary; work on agriculture and logging and other production projects under-taken by the authorities or the military; the construction and maintenance ofroads and railways; other infrastructure work and a range of other tasks.88

Sometimes, this forced labour had been imposed for the profit of private indi-viduals.

135. Forced labour in Myanmar prevents farmers from tending to the needsof their holdings, and children from attending school. It falls most heavily onlandless labourers and the poorer sections of the population. Forced labour iswidely performed by women, children and elderly persons, as well as personsunfit for work. The burden of forced labour also appears to be particularly greatfor non-Burmese ethnic groups, especially in areas where there is a strong mil-itary presence, and for the Muslim minority. 89

What the Commission of Inquiry recommended

136. The main recommendations of the ILO Commission of Inquiry werethat: (a) the relevant legislative texts be brought into line with the ForcedLabour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), without further delay; (b) that in actualpractice no more forced or compulsory labour be imposed by the authorities, inparticular the military; and (c) that the penalties under the Penal Code for theexaction of forced or compulsory labour be strictly enforced.90

Human rights violations

137. In addition to the ILO, the United Nations has placed forced labour inMyanmar in the context of gross violations of internationally recognized hu-man rights. Numerous Special Rapporteurs appointed by the United NationsCommission of Human Rights since 1992 have also documented cases of severehuman rights violations alleged to have been committed by the Myanmararmed forces — in the context primarily of forced recruitment and forced la-bour. In 2000, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights deplored thecontinued widespread use of forced labour for work in infrastructure projects,the production of food for the military and portering for the army, as well as

87 Following a complaint submitted by Workers’ delegates to the 83rd Session of the InternationalLabour Conference in June 1996, a Commission of Inquiry was set up by the Governing Body inMarch 1997 in accordance with article 26 of the Constitution. The report of this Commission provi-des very extensive documentation of cases of forced labour, and also the context in which theyoccurred. Subsequent reports of the Director-General on measures since taken by the Governmentof Myanmar, following the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, indicated that the pro-blems of forced labour remained extremely serious in 2000.88 ILO: “Measures recommended by the Governing Body under article 33 of the Constitution — Im-plementation of recommendations contained in the report of the Commission of Inquiry entitled For-ced Labour in Myanmar (Burma), in International Labour Conference, 88th Session Geneva, 2000,Provisional Record No. 4, p. 4/2.89 In May 1999 the World Confederation of Labour transmitted a note from a non-governmentalorganization observing that, although forced labour had decreased in central Myanmar, it was stillbeing reported on a large scale in the seven ethnic minority states which surrounded the centralBurma plain. Troops seeking labourers usually contacted the village headman, who then organizeda rotation system whereby each family had to provide one person for a project.90 ILO: Forced labour in Myanmar (Burma), Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed underarticle 26 of the ILO Constitution to examine the observance by Myanmar of the Forced LabourConvention, 1930 (No. 29), Official Bulletin, Vol. LXXXI (Geneva, 1998), Series B, also available athttp://www.ilo/public/english/standards/rel/gb/docs/gb273/Myanmar.html


forced labour in relation to trafficking and the conscription of children intoforced labour programmes.91 In 1999, concern over the matter within the ILOprompted other organizations, including the World Bank and the Office of theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to provide infor-mation relating to the continued exaction of forced labour in Myanmar.

The need to repeal old laws

138. The concerns relating to forced labour in Myanmar can usefully be di-vided into two categories: those of law and those of continuing practice. An out-standing problem of law has been the non-repeal of the Village Act (1907) andthe Towns Act (1907), both colonial laws which provided for the call-up of la-bour in broad terms. Despite the fact that antiquated laws were considered atone stage to have fallen into abeyance,92 the recent experience in Myanmar il-lustrates the importance of repealing them.

Thorny problems continue in practice

139. The problems in practice may be more difficult to resolve. The situationin Myanmar may involve examining some structural factors favouring the ex-istence of forced labour, including long-standing patterns of ethnic marginali-zation, and addressing the issue of cultural acceptance of the provision ofunpaid labour by traditional communities. Tailoring a solution would need totake these factors into account. But there can be no real possibility of tacklingthe problems of forced labour through specific and targeted programmes oftechnical assistance until a government has demonstrated the firm political willto eradicate a generalized practice, and to investigate and sanction severely theexaction of forced labour by its own officials.

The Government’s view and recent action

140. With the practices having been used over a lengthy period in Myanmar,the Government of Myanmar has long rejected the characterization of these ac-tivities as forced labour, emphasizing instead its programmes for infrastructureand socio-economic development in various parts of the country.93 However, inOctober 2000, it received a technical cooperation mission and it has subse-quently adopted new legislative orders and directives and outlined other admin-istrative measures against forced labour.94 The question which is nowoutstanding is whether, despite its stated position of non-cooperation95 with theILO following the entry into force of the measures under article 33, it will ac-cept to have an objective assessment of the practical implementation and actualimpact of these measures which the ILO alone is in a position to make.

91 United Nations: United Nations Commission on Human Rights, resolution 2000/23: Situation ofhuman rights in Myanmar; 56th session New York, 2000.92 Successive governments stated that, although the provisions established during the old colonialrules were still in force, the authorities concerned no longer exercised the power vested in them.As long ago as the late 1970s, a new law to replace this forced labour legislation was reportedlybeing drafted by the authorities concerned. 93 For example, in correspondence reproduced in ILO: Provisional Record No. 4, 88th Session, op.cit.94 Position paper of the delegation of Myanmar, reproduced in Governing Body doc. GB.279/6/1(Add.3).95 While Myanmar has ratified Convention No. 29, it has not ratified Convention No. 105 and thuswas to report on efforts it was making under the follow-up to the Declaration. No report had beenreceived by 1 January 2001 for the first or the second reporting period under the Declaration follow-up.


8. Forced labour related8. to trafficking in persons:8. The underside of globalization

Trafficking: A global problem

141. The broader phenomenon of trafficking in persons, an issue of growingalarm, often has forced labour aspects. It involves men and boys, but above allwomen and girls. Affecting richer and poorer countries alike, it is a truly globalphenomenon. The points of origin may be the poorer countries, and often themost deprived rural areas within these countries. The main destinations may bethe urban centres of the richer countries — Amsterdam, Brussels, London, NewYork, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo — and the capitals of developing and transitioncountries. But the movement of trafficked persons is highly complex and varied.Countries as diverse as Albania, Hungary, Nigeria and Thailand can actas points of origin, destination and transit at the same time.

142. While the media focuses on trafficking for the sex sector, persons are oftentrafficked for other purposes that may involve forced labour. The past move-ment of Haitian agricultural workers into the Dominican Republic was atypical example of international labour trafficking. Similar coercion involvingagricultural migrant workers has been detected on many continents. Domesticworkers, factory workers and particularly those in the informal sector can all be-come the victims of this phenomenon. While economic forces drive it, it willtake a range of tools to combat it. Trafficking in human beings is a moral out-rage, yet criminal penalties for engaging it are often less stringent than traffick-ing in drugs.96

United Nations arrives at international definition in November 2000

143. However, an agreed definition of trafficking in persons — helpful for moreeffective international action — proved elusive until quite recently. Under theProtocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, EspeciallyWomen and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention againstTransnational Organized Crime97 that was opened for signature in December2000, article 3(a) defines “trafficking in persons” to mean:

96 Interpol: Second International Conference on Trafficking in Women and Illegal Immigration,Lyon, 28-30 November 2000.97 Neither of these instruments is yet in force. Prior to this, the main international treaty was theUnited Nations Convention on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation ofthe Prostitution of Others, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1949 — an instru-ment of much more limited scope.


... the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, bymeans of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, offraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of position of vulnerability or of thegiving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person hav-ing control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation includes forced labour

144. The Protocol further specifies that “exploitation” includes, among otherthings: “forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery [or] ser-vitude” (article 3(a)). It adds that consent by an adult victim of trafficking shallbe irrelevant when any of the means included in the definition have been used.For persons under 18 years of age, the very recruitment, transportation, trans-fer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation constitutes“trafficking in persons”. Throughout the preparatory sessions, it was the con-cern of the United Nations, the ILO and other international organizations thatthe very definition of trafficking should include a reference to its coercive ele-ments, including forced labour, debt bondage and slavery-like practices.

145. Trafficking in persons is sometimes complicated, requiring examination“not only of the manner in which a migrant entered the country but also of theirworking conditions, and whether the migrant consented to the irregular entryand/or these working conditions. Trafficking and more voluntary forms of un-documented migration are best thought of as a continuum, with room for con-siderable variation between the extremes”.98 Part of the problem is whethertrafficking in persons should be considered a form of illegal migration, since thishas implications for counter-trafficking measures. In practical terms traffickersend up using people to generate income from forced labour exacted from them.

The mechanicsof trafficking

146. How does trafficking in persons operate? At its simplest it involvesmovement of persons for the purpose of performing labour, most probablyto engage in illicit activities or employment to be carried out under workingconditions that are below the statutory standards. It involves an agent, re-cruiter or transporter who will most likely derive profit from this interven-tion.

147. Coercion may not be evident at the beginning of the trafficking process orcycle. The person may enter into an agreement with the recruiting agent on anapparently voluntary basis, albeit often without having been given full informa-tion. But conditions at the destination point are likely to involve coercion, in-cluding physical restrictions on freedom of movement; abuse or violence; andfraud, often in the form of non-payment of promised wages. Victims frequentlyfind themselves trapped in debt bondage and other slavery-like conditions.

148. Indeed, much labour trafficking may be seen as a contemporary form ofdebt bondage. This is not the “bonded labour” referred to earlier in the text,which derives from traditional serfdom in agriculture and is handed down overgenerations. Debt bondage can be of far shorter duration. Its main motive is toextract profit by diverse methods, that range from the provision of illicit services— such as falsification of documents — to the criminal use of outright force.

Steps to take 149. Combating the forced labour aspects of trafficking in persons more effec-tively calls for:

� First, greater understanding of how to recognize the phenomenon, topave the way for more effective policies, laws and programmes of actionaround the world.

� Second, comprehension of the nature and dimensions of the problems.What are the main trafficking routes both within and across borders?

98 J. Salt and J. Hogarth: Migrant trafficking and human smuggling in Europe: A review of the evi-dence (Geneva, IOM, 2000).


When they change (as they rapidly do), which institutions do they dealwith? What tends to be the profile of trafficked persons, disaggregatedby sex, age, social origin, racial and ethnic group?

� Third, examination of the causes and the effects. What research hasbeen done on the social and economic factors behind the growth oftrafficking?

� Fourth, publicity about the measures being taken, by governments,social partners, international organizations, religious groups and othersto deal with forced labour aspects of trafficking.

Trafficking and forced labour: Demographic and gender aspects

150. It is important to know which population groups are most affected by traf-ficking for forced labour, and how. What is the experience of men? Women?Boys? Girls? Are poorest sectors of society always the most affected? Are theproblems particularly concentrated in specific areas or among certain ethnic orracial groups?

151. From anecdotal information, random case studies and media accounts,the indications are that women and children are the groups most affected, andthat Asia and Central and Eastern Europe are the geographical areas where theforced labour dimensions of trafficking are most evident. But it is a growingproblem in Africa and the Americas as well.

152. Accepted wisdom holds that the “feminization of forced labour and traf-ficking” goes together with the “feminization of migration”. And yet there haveactually been very few case studies of any type of trafficking, and they tend tobe very small-scale surveys without a uniform methodology. The more recentof these small-scale surveys in Asia have often emphasized the “voluntary” na-ture of trafficking in its initial stages, in that young persons may actively seek outthe services of a “trafficker”.99 Other examinations of trafficking have lamentedthe lack of attention to the phenomenon in sectors including domestic work, un-regulated industrial work, agriculture and the informal economy. In Asia thestudies have focused very deliberately on the sex-trade sector.

Alarming patterns of recruitment in Asia

153. In a small-scale survey of different research sites along the borders ofThailand with Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar,100

coercion, deception and the selling of minors were seen to have occurred mostcommonly in cases of direct recruitment from the village. The interviews re-vealed a number of cases of slavery-like conditions, including some (but not all)establishments in the sex industry where girls were held in debt bondage until acertain amount of money had been paid. The study also revealed domesticwork situations in which minors were never paid and were prevented from leav-ing. It concluded that the trafficking process itself was not usually exploitative,and that an apparently voluntary process of labour migration organized byfamilies, trusted friends or the children themselves appeared to be much morecommon. Other studies have however emphasized the coercive elements of

99 It has been observed, for example, in South-East Asia that the percentage of girls trafficked forprostitution by force is decreasing, while the number persuaded to enter prostitution voluntarily isincreasing, in part because of their ignorance of the precise nature, dangers and stigma attached tothis activity. K. Archavanatikul: Trafficking in children for labour exploitation including child pros-titution in the Mekong sub-region (Bangkok, July 1998).100 C. Wille: Trafficking in children into the worst forms of child labour in Thailand, Asian ResearchCentre for Migration and Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University (preliminary draft,2000).


trafficking, with a strong element of debt bondage to repay the cost of travel,and all repayment calculations at the employer’s discretion.

154. Research in poor villages in Nepal has found that fathers and other rela-tives may even be so desperate as to sell children to intermediaries. Traffickerscan have links with go-betweens in the cities of destination through brokers, andtheir accomplices may include relatives and friends as well as political lead-ers.101 Concerned at the increase in trafficking, the police in Nepal are cooper-ating in a number of awareness-raising programmes together with the ILO,UNICEF, UNIFEM and others.

155. In Africa, there is limited documentation on labour trafficking within theregion. It is recognized that young African women have been quite widely traf-ficked to the European sex trade. In the mid-1990s there was a wave of reportedtrafficking from West Africa, in particular Ghana and Nigeria, to Italy, theNetherlands and other European countries. Trafficking of women from theMahgreb and sub-Saharan African countries has also been reported inFrance.102

The different dimensions of trafficking in Africa

156. The nature and composition of trafficking within the African region wouldappear however to be different. The ILO’s own research, conducted underIPEC auspices, inevitably focuses on children. But its recent findings from theWest African region can shed some light on the broader dimensions of traffick-ing within Africa.103 The types of trafficking identified in West Africa have in-cluded abduction, placement for sale, bonded placement, placement for a tokensum, placement as a service, and placement as a form of embezzlement. Thereare also instances of trafficking of children linked to armed conflict.

157. In general, boys have mainly been trafficked for work in agricultural plan-tations, and girls as domestic servants in Africa. However, both sexes have beenfound in other activities including street trade, catering and prostitution. Côted’Ivoire has identified urban child labour as being linked to trans-border traf-ficking.104

158. When researching forced labour in relation to the trafficking of children,it has been difficult to draw a clear distinction between “cultural placement”and placement for labour exploitation. As a long-standing African cultural tra-dition, children have often been placed with family members living in bettereconomic conditions. However, while this also continues in the traditionalsense, a greater number of children are now being exploited for economic rea-sons.

The sex trade dominates trafficking in Europe

159. In Europe, though much of the recent media attention has been on forcedfemale prostitution, a recent study argues that the largest number of victims aremale.105 Over 80 per cent of the migrants trafficked into Ukraine were foundto be male — most of them in the 20-40 year age group. In Poland the pro-portion of males was even higher at 91 per cent, with 62 per cent in their twen-ties. Those from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine wereolder and those from the Arab States younger. One study found that more fe-male than male migrants were trafficked into Poland from the CIS countriesand other parts of Europe, whereas the opposite was true of migrants from theMiddle and Far East and Africa.106 And yet the problems with data of this kind

101 See: National plan of action against trafficking in children and their commercial sexual exploi-tation, Ministry of Women and Social Welfare and ILO/IPEC (Kathmandu, 1998).102 Salt and Hogarth, op. cit.103 D. Verbeet: Combating the trafficking in children for labour exploitation in West and CentralAfrica, Synthesis report, ILO/IPEC, Abidjan, July 2000 (unpublished).104 ibid., information from the Government of Côte d’Ivoire. 105 Salt and Hogarth, op. cit.


are easily apparent. The authors admit that the data are not exactly compara-ble, since for some countries they may relate to illegal border crossings ratherthan specifically to trafficked migrants. Statistics in Belgium and Germany,for example, tend to be for illegal immigrants generally, without any indicationof the involvement of traffickers.

160. As in Asia, a great deal of evidence for coercive trafficking in Europe re-lates to women in the sex sector — arguably reflecting that research has tendedto concentrate on this area. A recent report on trafficking in Bosnia andHerzegovina107 found that this country had emerged as a significant destina-tion point for women trafficked from East European countries (especially theRepublic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine). Though some participa-tion in the sex trade by adults appeared to be voluntary, the investigation doc-umented cases where women had passports removed and received no paymentfor their services. According to the IOM, many of the women were “sold andbought” several times, at prices ranging from 500 to 1,500 euros. Moreover,while all reported cases related to forced prostitution, it was observed generallythat the “full extent of the problem has still to be identified” and that “othertypes of forced labour or debt bondage remain hidden in the grey areas” of theeconomy.108 In the Kosovo area of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,concerns have emerged over trafficking for sexual purposes in the wake ofarmed conflict and the concentration of troops and economic dislocation thatsuch conflicts entail. The IOM has sounded the alarm about trafficking for thepurposes of sexual exploitation throughout the Balkan region. There, as else-where, the profitable nature of the activity is increasingly attractive to organizedcriminal networks.

Movement is East-East and East-West

161. Trafficking in Europe involves “East to East” movements as well as “Eastto West”, with countries having stronger economies (mainly Hungary, theCzech Republic and Poland) becoming countries of destination for othersless well off in the region. Countries such as these may act as transit points forWestern Europe or North America. Concern over the problem has promptedHungary to take the important step of penalizing trafficking in persons as acrime in its own right and a violation of personal freedom and dignity.109 In Is-rael as well, there has been an influx of women brought in by criminal net-works illegally from CIS countries, Eastern Europe and developing countries(especially from Central and southern Africa) to work in brothels and escort ser-vices. Even those who knew they would end up working as prostitutes did notimagine the terrible conditions to which they would be subjected or the cycle ofdebt bondage that would entrap them. Insufficient investigation appears tohave been carried out, however, on the labour market conditions that createfertile ground for such abuses, or on the extent to which the shrinking opportu-nities for legitimate employment, especially among women, have acted as apush factor in European trafficking.110

162. The phenomenon of trafficking for sex is also known all too well in West-ern Europe. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a recent report commis-sioned by the Home Office focused specifically on trafficking in women for

106 ibid.107 Trafficking in human beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Summary report of the Joint Traffic-king Project of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Office of the High Com-missioner for Human Rights, May 2000.108 ibid.109 L. Fehér: Legal study on the combat of trafficking in women for the purpose of forced prostitutionin Hungary, Country report (Vienna, Boltzman Institute, 1999), p. 36.110 With the generally high level of education in this region, including among women, the profileof the persons trafficked can be expected to differ considerably from many hailing from developingcountries; the situation in which they end up, however, is largely the same: they are virtually power-less in the hands of their exploiters.


sexual exploitation.111 Typically, women enter the country presenting them-selves with variations of legal and illegal documentation. On reaching their des-tination, false papers are taken back by the trafficker and the woman’s passportis invariably handed over to the person to whom she is now indebted and whohas “paid” for her. Though advances may in theory be cancelled over a three-month period, the period of indebtedness may be extended. The reality formost trafficked women is that “they are lucky if they receive any” of the moneyearned by them, and it is virtually impossible to earn enough to pay off the hugeand mounting debt.

Clandestine operations pose challenges in the Americas

163. In the Americas, most of the research on trafficking has focused on theUnited States, and again largely on the sex sector. Yet attention has also beendirected to abusive and coercive forms of trafficking in other sectors, includingsmall industry and agriculture. A review conducted for the Government112 onseveral “illustrative trafficking and slavery” operations over the past eight years,involving clandestine operations in the form of sweatshops, agricultural work,domestic servitude and other forms of forced labour, found that these opera-tions went unnoticed or were able to exist longer than trafficking operations in-volving the sex industry.

164. The findings in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Actof 2000, recently enacted in the United States, estimated that50,000 women and children alone are trafficked to that country every year.There have been reports of trafficking in at least 20 states, with most cases oc-curring in California, Florida and New York. Primary source countries for theUnited States are identified as China, the Czech Republic, Mexico, theRussian Federation, Thailand, Ukraine and Viet Nam. Women havealso been trafficked from Brazil, Honduras, Hungary, the Republic ofKorea, Latvia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Poland, among othercountries. Women have been trafficked primarily for the sex industry, thoughalso to provide maid services at hotels, peddle trinkets on subways and buses,work in sweatshops and beg. Their average age is thought to be roughly20 years old.

From domestic workto drug trafficking

165. While Latin America has certainly not been spared labour trafficking forillicit purposes, data are rare. A recent study suggests a familiar pattern: falsepromises to work abroad in legitimate employment, payment of travel costswhich then become a debt, forced prostitution, threats and violence to the vic-tims and their families at home, captivity and confiscation of documents. Thecountries identified as being most affected include Brazil, Colombia, the Do-minican Republic and Ecuador,113 but the phenomenon appears to be ona much more limited scale than in other regions. In addition to the sex trade,there is, of course, the use of children as forced labour in the narcotics trade —a practice that has plagued North and South America alike and constitutes oneof the worst forms of child labour. A more hidden form of trafficking that endsup in forced labour situations involves work in private households. Domesticworkers may be recruited through an intermediary who has a direct relation-ship with the village of origin and the family; IPEC is looking into village-to-city

111 L. Kelly and L. Regan: Stopping traffic: Exploring the extent of, and responses to, trafficking inwomen for sexual exploitation in the UK, Police Research Series, Paper 125, Policing and ReducingCrime Unit, Home Office, United Kingdom, May 2000. An exploratory study based on a survey ofpolice forces, it identified 71 women known to have been trafficked into prostitution in the UnitedKingdom in 1998. It is argued that there is a “hidden trafficking problem” several times greater thancan be documented with certainty, and that there may have been between 142 and 1,420 womentrafficked into the United Kingdom during the same period.112 A.O. Richard: International trafficking in women to the United States: A contemporary manifes-tation of slavery and organized crime, Center for the Study of Intelligence (Apr. 2000), based onofficial sources.113 Interpol: Project Gray Route (Lyon, 2000).


patterns of recruitment for domestic work involving children in Latin America.A further type of cross-border trafficking that has involved forced labour in theregion was illustrated earlier in the case of Haiti and the Dominican Repub-lic.

No region is spared from the scourge of trafficking

166. In short, while trafficking related to forced labour may take differentforms, it is a worldwide phenomenon. People are lured with false promises oflegitimate jobs in restaurants, bars, night clubs, factories, plantations and pri-vate homes; however, once on the job and isolated, they may find their libertyseverely curtailed. Their passports or travel documents are taken away; theirmovements are restricted; and their wages withheld until the transport debt, thevalue of which is set at the trafficker’s discretion, has been repaid. And becausetraffickers can resell the women’s debts to other traffickers or employers, victimscan become caught in a cycle of perpetual debt bondage. In addition, the work-ers may be prevented from leaving by security guards, violence, threats and re-tention of their documents.

What are the causes of trafficking?

167. A thorough examination of the economic, social and cultural factors be-hind the rise in labour trafficking would require a separate study. At the veryleast, they include: poverty and indebtedness, usually of rural workers and theirfamilies; illiteracy and low levels of education, inhibiting decent employment;gender-based discrimination in the labour market, causing unequal access forwomen to remunerative employment; and even traditional beliefs that devaluegirls. The causes of the increase in such trafficking are complex and as yet in-sufficiently researched.

168. The recent rise in labour trafficking may basically be attributed to imbal-ances between labour supply and the availability of legal work in a place wherethe jobseeker is legally entitled to reside. Labour trafficking should not, in the-ory, take place if the jobseeker has freedom of geographical movement and free-dom of access to employment. It occurs because: the worker is below the legalminimum age of employment; the employment is itself illegal; the conditions ofwork are worse than those prescribed by law; or the worker seeks to reach acountry where there are barriers to legal migration. And finally, of course, it ex-ists because someone can make a profit from the exploitation of these imbal-ances.

169. The rise in trafficking has often been linked with the policies pursued bysome governments to promote the exportation of labour for jobs abroad in anattempt to increase remittances and solve domestic unemployment problems.Extreme poverty can obviously be a factor. Yet a number of trafficked migrantshave been reasonably well off in their own countries. But even they or their fam-ilies can end up in debt bondage. It is the ensuing moral and financial dilemmathat exposes migrants to “unbridled exploitation of their labour in conditionsthat are close to slavery”.114

A link with globalization

170. The UNDP’s Human Development Report 1999 listed trafficking as one of thecriminal activities found to have increased with the rise of globalization. Theeconomic crisis in East Asia is seen as having resulted in many women beingtrafficked to escape from sudden poverty.115

114 Migrant workers, op. cit.115 United Nations: Violence against women, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence againstwomen, its causes and consequences, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 56th session,New York, 29 February 2000 (United Nations doc. E/CN.4/2000/68).


171. Research undertaken for the ILO’s IPEC programme in the Asian regionhas also identified a relationship between globalization and trends in the traf-ficking of women and children. The opening of borders and the improvementof transport infrastructure between nations, while bringing positive benefitsthrough increased trade, has also facilitated more migration. As the regionstruggles to recover from the economic crisis of 1997, the movements of peoplein search of work across borders has increased the scope for illegal activities in-cluding trafficking; and an underlying factor is the high profitability of traffick-ing, alongside the low chance of being apprehended.

The feminizationof migration

172. A key aspect is also the gender dimension of this migratory flow, and therapid rise in women’s labour force participation. The “feminization of migra-tion” has been put forward as a major determinant of labour trafficking. Nota-bly in Asia, women have been moving more in their own right as autonomouseconomic migrants, rather than as dependants. Sending countries have beenmainly Indonesia,116 the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand — andrecently also China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar— with recipient locations including the Gulf Cooperation Council States, inparticular Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; Brunei Darussalem, the SpecialAdministrative Region of Hong Kong, China; Japan; Malaysia; and Singa-pore.

173. When undocumented or illegal flows are also considered, both the num-ber and proportion of women are likely to be higher. Undocumented overseascontract workers from Indonesia are estimated to be seven times more thantheir legal counterparts. And persons leaving Sri Lanka through official chan-nels are estimated at only 40 per cent of total migrants.117 While women andmen are now migrating in roughly equal numbers — and the annual growth infemale migration has been greater than that for males in most parts of the worldin recent years — traditional gender segregation in the labour market tends tolimit their opportunities for work to domestic households, entertainment, hotelsand restaurants, sales and assembly work in manufacturing. In the Europeanregion, the growing feminization of labour migration, together with the increas-ingly restrictive immigration policies of recipient countries, has created a dis-tinct market demand that is at present being fuelled by traffickers.

Responses to trafficking above the national level

174. At both the regional and international levels, the growing alarm over traf-ficking has provoked a range of responses. For example, within the Council ofEurope, the Committee of Ministers in May 2000 recommended that its Mem-ber States review their legislation and practice with a view to introducing andwidely publicizing measures designed to:

� ensure protection of the rights and interests of the victims subjected totrafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation;

� give absolute priority to assisting the victims through rehabilitationprogrammes and protection from traffickers;

� apprehend, prosecute and punish all those responsible for traffickingand prevent sex tourism and activities which might lead to forms oftrafficking; and

� consider trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexualexploitation as falling within the scope of international organized crime,thus calling for coordinated action.

116 In Indonesia, for example, women working abroad outnumbered male migrants by more thanfour to one in 1998. In Sri Lanka, there were almost three times more female than male legal labourmigrants in 1994 figures, and some 80 per cent of these were domestic maids.117 L. Lim and N. Oishi: International labour migration of Asian women: Distinctive characteristicsand policy concerns (Geneva, ILO, 1996).


Member States were also urged to combat the long-term causes of trafficking,which the document recognized as “often linked to the inequalities betweeneconomically developed countries and those that are less developed, particu-larly by improving the social status as well as the economic condition of women...”.118 The Council of Europe has started work on reconciling instruments onhuman rights and diplomatic immunity in response to abuses that have beendetected. Member States of the European Union have also been called upon toharmonize the definitions of crime in this field and have a uniform policy onpenalties. In addition, Europol, which facilitates coordination of law enforce-ment activity across Europe, has developed a standard procedure to permitmember States to access its support for joint teams involved in cross-border in-vestigation and the arrest of traffickers in human beings.

175. There is a growing consensus that trafficking in persons must be addressedas an urgent human rights concern. The United Nations Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights bases its work in the area of trafficking on twofundamental principles:

� first, that human rights must be at the core of any credible anti-trafficking strategy; and

� second, that such strategies must be developed and implemented fromthe perspective of those who most need their human rights protectedand promoted.

176. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) hasplaced human rights at the centre of its action plan to eliminate all forms of traf-fic in women, based on commitments made by its member States in 1991.119

Many United Nations initiatives have continued to place their primary empha-sis on women and children, particularly those coerced or deceived into workingin abusive conditions in the sex industry abroad. However, lumping womenand children together can blur understanding of each of these separate issues.

177. Humanitarian law concerns for women and children civilians as victimsof armed conflict reinforce this point. The emphasis placed on sexual exploita-tion, while certainly a matter of grave concern, may also tend to obscure traf-ficking in human beings that leads to forced labour situations in othercircumstances, such as work under confinement in clandestine productionunits, isolated agricultural holdings and even private homes. The ILO’s owntoolkit of policy measures, such as standards on sound recruitment proceduresand migrant workers, place these issues in a more comprehensive context (seeAnnex 4). Certainly more work is needed on the socio-economic problems thatlie behind trafficking for forced labour. As a lucrative activity, it is unlikely todecrease on its own or be defeated without enhanced international and inter-state cooperation.

The response to trafficking: National measures

178. A wealth of current national initiatives illustrates efforts being made tocombat trafficking for forced labour purposes. Where specific legislation ontrafficking exists, it is sometimes focused on prostitution.120 Other legislation

118 Council of Europe: Recommendation No. R (2000) of the Committee of Ministers to Member Stateson action against trafficking in human being for the purpose of sexual exploitation, 19 May 2000.The recommendation also invited the Council of Europe Member States to consider specific measu-res regarding research, awareness raising, training, forms of assistance to victims, cooperationbetween penal and judicial authorities and other matters.119 OSCE: Proposed action plan 2000 for activities to combat trafficking in human beings (Warsaw,1999).


provides more generally for penalties for the smuggling or exploitation of immi-grants. The Act to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Child Pornography of1995 criminalizes forced prostitution in Belgium, and strengthens victim sup-port mechanisms through special shelter centres. It penalizes involvement inthe entrance of a foreigner into that country, when this entails the use of vio-lence, intimidation, coercion or deception. Since the adoption of this Act, theGovernment of Belgium has issued detailed annual reports that include statis-tics from local authorities on investigations into working conditions whereforced labour has been suspected and on the nationality of trafficked persons.121

Countries are actingto protect the victims

179. Under Act No. 40 of 27 March 1998, Italy provides for imprisonment ofup to 15 years for persons smuggling, controlling and exploiting immigrants,while victims may benefit from social assistance and integration programmes.In 1998, the Netherlands increased witness protection in order to provide formore effective prosecution of traffickers. With the creation of incentives for vic-tims of trafficking to come forward, prosecutions against traffickers have in-creased significantly. These countries, as well as others such as Austria, givetrafficked women the right to temporary permission to stay pending prosecu-tions of the accused perpetrators.

180. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 in theUnited States also provides for the protection of victims of severe forms oftrafficking. It introduces increased penalties for traffickers, including life impris-onment for sex trafficking in children and assistance to victims, regardless oftheir immigration status. The Act also provides for data collection and report-ing on trafficking in the United States and abroad, as well as a requirement towithhold some forms of foreign assistance from countries that do not make sig-nificant efforts to address the problem. It also calls on the President to carry outinternational initiatives to enhance economic opportunity for potential victimsof trafficking as a means of deterring it. Even before this enactment, a numberof successful prosecutions had been brought against traffickers on other legalgrounds.

Asian countries identify penalizing traffickers as key

181. Several Asian countries have adopted specific legislation against traffick-ing over the past decade. In China, the 1997 Criminal Law penalizes the ab-duction, purchase, sale and delivery of women and children. Cambodia in1996 adopted its Law on the Suppression of Kidnapping and Trafficking. In1997, the Prime Minister of Viet Nam issued a directive coordinating meas-ures to prevent trafficking through the illegal sending of women and childrenabroad.

182. Thailand has adopted a series of law reforms in recent years, some ofwhich are directed specifically at child prostitution. An Act concerningmeasures to prevent and suppress trafficking in women and children has beenin effect since November 1997.122 This aims to reinforce official operations toassist the victims trafficked in commercial sexual exploitation, extending cover-age to boys and girls under 18 years of age, and including rehabilitation pro-grammes for the victims. A 1997 amendment to the Penal Code stipulates thata sexual offence is committed by those who procure, lure or traffic children forthe gratification of another person.123 Nepal has drafted a new legislation ontrafficking in persons, as have other countries in the South Asian region. How-

120 The summary of European approaches is taken from: Combat of trafficking in women for thepurpose of forced prostitution: International standards (Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Hu-man Rights, 2000).121 See for example: Service Fédéral d’Information: Lutte contre la traite des êtres humains: Rapportannuel 1999 (Brussels, Centre pour l’égalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme, 2000).122 Act of BE 2540, 1997.123 Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 14) of 1997.


ever, the problem of the inadequate enforcement of such laws remains. Manyof the governments of the region are now working towards action plans that in-clude components of rescue and rehabilitation, as well as preventive measures.

A mantle of protection for overseas workers

183. The Philippines has taken an important lead in protecting its overseasmigrant workers against situations such as those involving forced labour. Thecornerstone of the new policy is the Migrant Workers and Overseas FilipinosAct of 1995. This provides for strong penalties for illegal recruitment, specifiesa minimum age for overseas employment, and establishes official welfare serv-ices for Filipino contract workers in their host countries.

184. Overseas employment had been an emotive and controversial topic in thePhilippines, given the widespread allegations of maltreatment of domesticworkers from that country in the Middle East and of entertainment workers inother parts of East Asia. As in other Asian sender countries, the past two de-cades have witnessed a pronounced feminization of overseas migration. Fromonly 12 per cent in 1975, women workers comprised more than half of theworkforce deployed overseas in 1995. Though the share of those recorded as“entertainers” and “domestic workers” was small (at only 1.86 per cent and13.58 per cent of workers, respectively, in 1994), it had risen considerably com-pared with previous years. A 1995 White Paper issued by the Department ofLabour and Employment of the Philippines found that the majority of new hiresin 1994 were in work classified as “vulnerable occupations”, with domestic help(26.4 per cent) and entertainers (18.17 per cent) accounting for almost half thetotal number of new contracts. As many as 95 per cent were women.124

185. Under the 1995 legislation, the State is to deploy overseas Filipino workersonly in countries where migrant workers’ rights are protected. There are heavypenalties for persons found guilty of illegal recruitment, including fines andprison terms of not less than six years. A mechanism for free legal assistance forvictims of illegal recruitment is established within the Department of Labor andEmployment and its regional offices. The Philippine Government has also cre-ated new procedures for: the licensing of private recruitment agencies; the ac-creditation or evaluation of foreign employers; and setting out minimumstandards on a country-specific and skill-specific basis — primarily for the oc-cupations considered to be most at risk, including domestic and entertainmentwork.125

186. Most ILO member States have recently been asked to provide informa-tion on measures taken to protect victims, to train law enforcement officers, im-migration officers and labour inspectors, to investigate organized crime inrelation to trafficking in persons and to punish traffickers.126 The results mayprovide additional information on the coercive nature of affronts to the princi-ple of the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour. Traffickingfor forced labour purposes is unfortunately a growth industry — one which em-ployers, workers and governments would rather see disappear.

124 R. Amjad: Philippines and Indonesia: On the way to a migration transition?, Paper presented atthe Conference on the Dynamics of Labour Migration in Asia, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan, Mar.1996.125 M.A. Abrera-Mangahas: “Violence against women migrant workers: A Philippine reality check”,in Philippine Labour Review, (Manila),Vol. XX, No. 2, July-Dec. 1996.126 Report of the Committee of Experts, 89th Session, Geneva, 2001; general observation under Con-vention No. 29.


9. Prison-linked forced labour:9. Contemporary dilemmas

Ethical issues posed 187. The core questions of coercion, imposition of penalties and withdrawal ofprivileges assume an entirely different significance in situations in which peopleare deprived of their liberty by virtue of their imprisonment. Some of the mostdifficult policy and ethical issues deal with work performed by prisoners, sincenot all of it is prohibited forced labour.127 Work performed under decent cir-cumstances is seen by employers’ organizations as advantageous for prisoners:“it could fulfil therapeutic functions and play a role in retaining skills and pro-viding a minimum income for the prisoners or enabling them to compensate thevictims of their crimes”.128 However, the work of prisoners raises some complexissues that have long occupied the ILO supervisory bodies, which are the ap-propriate forums for such a debate. Instead of venturing into this area, this sec-tion of the Global Report will draw upon the main issues raised by governmentsin their annual reports under the follow-up to the Declaration, and the trendsthey illustrate.

188. Two very different questions have received attention in those reports:prison labour performed in the context of various forms of private enterprise,and prison labour imposed by the State for what it characterizes as anti-socialacts. The first is a growing trend, fuelled by a general wave of enthusiasm forprivatization, whereas the second one has been diminishing with the declinein the number of regimes that impose forced labour to punish the expressionof political views. Both trends form part of the larger dynamic, global pictureof forced labour today.

Forms of privatized prison labour on the rise

189. A number of countries are increasingly resorting to privatized prison la-bour, under various arrangements, in fields ranging from agriculture and stock-breeding to computer component production and airline reservation booking.These developments, which started in developed countries but have spread toothers, have spurred serious concern over “both basic rights and unfair compe-tition”.129 The extent of the impact of these arrangements on the free labour

127 See Convention No. 29, Article 2(2)(c) and Convention No. 105, Article 1.128 ILO: Report of the Committee on the Application of Standards, International Labour Conference,86th Session, Geneva, June 1998, Provisional Record, No. 18, para. 93 (Statement of the Employermembers).129 ibid., para. 90 (Statement of the Worker members).


market largely remains to be measured and analysed, even though the practicesare far from new. They are increasing, with private prison services now beingmarketed internationally.

190. Prison labour can be connected with private entities in many ways. Pris-oners may work with a private entity as part of an educational or trainingscheme; they may labour in workshops within the prison to produce goods soldto private entities in the open market; or they may work outside the prison fora private entity as part of a pre-release scheme. Often, prisoners provide labourwithin prisons, contributing to the running of correctional facilities managed byprivate entities. Some prisoners work with private firms outside the prison dur-ing the day, returning at night. This has raised questions in relation to the ex-ercise of freedom of association.130 In the United States, prison job fairs havebeen held in some states, and temporary placement services sometimes recruitwithin prison walls — practices strongly criticized by workers’ organizations.Trade unions point to very low wages and lack of protection for prisoners, whoare predominantly from minority groups.

Joint ventures191. There can also be joint ventures and subcontracting relationships in-volving public authorities, private entities and the prisoners. For example, theMalaysian Prisons Department has embarked on a new approach of initiatingjoint venture schemes with the private sector aimed at: providing employmentto a growing number of inmates; familiarizing inmates with modern technol-ogy to ensure more marketable skills; providing more monetary gains for in-mates; and creating employment opportunities in the hope of post-releaseplacement. Under the scheme, the Prisons Department in Malaysia makesavailable the labour force and workshop premises, while private companiesprovide the machinery, raw materials, technical expertise, marketing and saleof products. The participating firms pay for the rental of prison workshops,utilities, insurance coverage and compensation to the inmates. The Govern-ment reports that the inmates participate on a voluntary basis, and receive nopunishment if they refuse to do so. This situation raises questions about volun-tarism and consent in such circumstances.

The needfor supervisionand control

192. Many jurisdictions in the United States have established private prisonsand permitted the contracting out of prison labour — a practice that has in-creased over the past two decades. According to the Government approxi-mately 77,000 persons (or about 4 per cent of the total inmate population) areincarcerated in state and local facilities owned or managed by private profit-making corporations. Though the federal prison system does not currently per-mit private prisons or make individuals available to work for private companies,30 states have legalized the contracting out of prison labour since 1990. Publicauthorities reportedly retain supervisory control over the operation of the pri-vate institutions, either through minimum statutory standards or by a contractbetween the Government and the private entity. The United States Govern-ment reports that it uses the same means of oversight and control of the practiceof contracting out prison labour to private enterprise.

Trade unions voice concerns

193. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has crit-icized a number of aspects of such systems.131 It points to instances of prisonerswho refused such work losing their chance for early release and being deprivedof privileges and time outside their cells. Workers’ organizations in other indus-trialized countries, including Austria, Australia, France, Germany, New

130 See, for example: “Speedrack Products Group, Ltd. vs. National Labour Relations Board” in Fed.Reporter, Vol. 114, 3rd series, p. 1276, on the question of whether inmates on work release couldvote in elections to determine whether workers would be represented by a trade union.


Zealand and the United Kingdom, have also expressed serious concernover wage rates and/or prisoners’ terms and conditions of work, especiallywhen private enterprise is involved. As in the case of developing countries, gov-ernments of industrialized countries have sometimes cited financial reasons forthe public-private arrangements.

Economic conditionsa push factor

194. In certain countries, notably in Africa, governments have attributed thehiring out of prison labour to the severe economic conditions that have affectedtheir state budgets for the care of prisoners. An example is Madagascar, wherethe hiring out of prison labour is permitted under section 70 of Decree No. 59-121, provided that the work is undertaken for the good of the country. The Gov-ernment acknowledges that the practice does exist, to an unknown extent, andhas requested ILO assistance in amending its law.132 In other African countriesthe legislation permits the transfer of prison labour to private enterprises (Côted’Ivoire is one example), but there is limited information available as to the ex-tent to which this practice is actually carried out.

Appropriate safeguards 195. The trend towards private involvement in prison labour poses dilemmasof policy as well as ethics. ILO Convention No. 29, from which the fundamentalprinciple regarding forced labour in part derives, stipulates that the work ofconvicted prisoners should be carried out under the supervision of a public au-thority, and that the prisoner is not to be hired to or placed at the service of pri-vate individuals, companies or associations. For purposes of principles underthe ILO Declaration, what are the appropriate safeguards for prisoners? Wherea prisoner gives consent to work for a private enterprise, by what standards canthe nature of that consent, the fairness of compensation, the sufficiency of pro-tection against injury and other questions be assessed?

A role for tripartite debate

196. With prisoners already deprived of their liberty, there is an evident riskthat private hiring of prison labour can involve exploitation, thus negating anypretence of the exercise of free will. When such practices constitute forced la-bour, they act to the detriment of both the working prisoners and the econom-ically active population as a whole. Should private profit be derived from publicincarceration? Privatized prison labour is nonetheless seen by some as positive— provided that marketable skills are imparted and prisoners engage in suchemployment and training on an entirely voluntary basis — and ILO constitu-ents could usefully explore these issues more deeply. Since the absence of em-ployment opportunities contributes to criminal behaviour in the first place,consideration of the broader labour market issues familiar to the tripartite con-stituents may facilitate such discussions.133

197. While it is, of course, up to the ILO supervisory bodies to continue thediscussion in relation to the provisions of ratified Conventions,134 the Declara-tion is unequivocal in its call for the elimination of all forms of forced or com-

131 The ICFTU states that prisoners work in several sectors, including internationally traded pro-ducts, at wage rates ranging from US$0.23 to US$1.15 a day. The General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (1947) permits the invocation of exceptions to the free trade and goods for products of pri-son labour (art. XX). All art. XX exceptions must not be applied in a discriminatory manner or as adisguised restriction on international trade.132 Report of the Government of Madagascar under the ILO Review of annual reports under theDeclaration, Part II, 2001.133 An example of an attempt to do so is B. Western and K. Beckett: “How unregulated is the U.S.labour market? The penal system as a labour market institution”, in American Journal of Sociology(Chicago, Vol. 104, No. 4, Jan. 1999), pp. 1030-1059.134 At its December 2000 session, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions andRecommendations reviewed the concerns outlined here, recalling debate at the time of the adop-tion of Convention No. 29 and recent discussions in the Conference Committee on the Applicationof Standards. Report of the Committee of Experts, 2001, paras. 72-146.


pulsory labour, as a fundamental principle. As experience is gained under thefollow-up to the Declaration, it will become clearer what the essence of thatprinciple is in relation to everyday life.

Forced labour for“ anti-social acts”

198. A second issue arising from reports under the follow-up to the Declarationrelates to the exacting of any kind of compulsory labour from an individual whois deemed by the State to be anti-social, or to have committed any kind of of-fence of that nature.

199. The Government of China has provided a description of its rehabilitationprogrammes for what it terms minor offences. The Government has stated thatthe principle of the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour isrecognized in China, and that no forced or compulsory labour exists except forpersons interned through labour.

Rehabilitation through labour

200. The system of rehabilitation through labour in China is implementedmainly on the basis of a series of laws adopted by the State Council between1957 and 1982; and also on separate decisions on the prohibitions of drugs,prostitution and whoring, adopted by the National Peoples’ Congress in theearly 1990s. Since rehabilitation through labour is characterized in China as acompulsory measure for education and reform rather than a criminalpunishment, the decision is not made by the People’s Court, but reviewed andapproved by the Administrative Committee for Rehabilitation through Labourof the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the cen-tral Government) and of large and medium-sized cities. Moreover, while the in-itial decision regarding rehabilitation through labour is taken by anadministrative committee, there is a non-judicial appeals procedure.

201. The Government stated in its annual report under the Declaration, 2000,that the term for the majority of persons interned for rehabilitation through la-bour was one year; the minority served from between one-and-a-half years tothree years. At the time of this Report, there were 284 organs in charge of re-habilitation through labour in China accommodating 240,000 persons. Fortyper cent of these had been interned for offences of larceny, fraud and gambling;20 per cent for offences of disturbing public order, such as assembling crowdsto pick quarrels and stir up troubles; and 40 per cent for offences of repeatedlytaking drugs, prostitution and whoring. Citizens were not interned for rehabil-itation through labour because of political views or normal religious activities,the Government reported. It further stated that the decisions to intern personsfor rehabilitation through labour is to be based solely on the illegality of theiracts, irrespective of their ethnic communities, professions and religious beliefs.

Another view of the practice

202. In comments made in the compilation of annual reports under the Dec-laration, 2001, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)has expressed its opinion that the system of rehabilitation as practised in Chinais incompatible with the principle of the elimination of all forms of forced orcompulsory labour — one of the reasons being that the labour is imposed byadministrative or other non-judicial bodies. The ICFTU has suggested that a“steep rise” in the number of persons interned for administrative rehabilitationmay be related to the increase in workers’ and peasants’ protests throughoutChina in recent years. Many Chinese workers are reported to have incurredsentences involving forced labour under China’s criminal laws, including the1997 Endangering State Security Act. The ICFTU has also questioned whetherany specific categories of the population may in practice suffer differentiatedtreatment, in the light of reports that a high rate of forced labour sentences hasbeen imposed on members of unofficial religious groups and national minori-ties.

203. The Government has observed that, since its establishment 40 years ago,the system of rehabilitation through labour has played an important role in


maintaining social order and preventing crimes. Rehabilitation through labouris thus seen by the Government as a measure suited to the particular circum-stances of China in dealing with problems of social security and peace.

204. Within the context of a Memorandum of Understanding between theGovernment of China and the Office of the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Human Rights, a workshop on punishment of minor crimes was heldin Beijing in February 2001. On this occasion, the High Commissioner recalledthat the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had deemedre-education through labour “inherently arbitrary”. She believed that a seriousreview of the practice of re-education through labour was justified.

A spectrumof situationsand a distillingof principles

205. This part has laid out the spectrum of situations involving forced labour,from the traditional to its newly emerging forms. At their core, the situations allinvolve a denial of free choice, a negation of voluntary personal action, and thecoercion by one human being of another, with impunity. Eliminating all formsof forced or compulsory labour calls for disincentives as well as penalties. A plat-form for socio-economic development incorporating the elimination of forcedlabour as one of its planks creates a positive alternative for achieving decentwork. Using the “global dynamic picture” portrayed here as background, thenext part looks at assistance provided in recent years by the ILO and partnerorganizations with the goal of eliminating forced and compulsory labour in allits forms.

Part II. ILO assistance towardsthe elimination of forcedand compulsory labour:Experience to date


1. Introduction

Indirect approachesto combating forced labour

ILO ASSISTANCE

206. Aside from activities carried out by the ILO in different regions whichare indirectly concerned with the objective of eliminating forced labour, itseradication per se has not in the recent past been a priority concern for ILOtechnical cooperation. The same holds true for other organizations in theUnited Nations system and international agencies concerned with economicand social development or with the promotion and protection of humanrights. Child labour and labour trafficking, along with the promotion ofmicrocredit schemes, have been perhaps the only areas where there has beena concerted international effort to combat forms of forced labour in recentyears. Fortunately, with more targeted technical cooperation projects gettingunder way in relation to the Declaration on Fundamental Principles andRights at Work, this picture is changing.

Why so few programmes to date?

To date, most ILO activity with regard to the eradication of forced and com-pulsory labour has been in the arena of ILO supervisory bodies, and in certaincases representations or complaints have led to technical assistance. Yet whileILO supervisory bodies have been vigilant in relation to forced labour, theirwork has not often led directly to programmes of technical cooperation. With afew exceptions, they have focused more on whether or not certain conditions oflaw and practice constitute forced labour, rather than on the practical measuresand assistance that would be required to overcome certain problems. This mayexplain why so few ILO assistance projects and activities have so far taken astheir entry point the concept of forced or compulsory labour.

This is in marked contrast to child labour; indeed, the concentration of efforton this issue has enabled the ILO and its constituents to address broader the-matic problems of forced or compulsory labour that have come to light in rela-tion to children. Similarly, heightened awareness of gender and migrationissues has led the ILO to deal with issues involving trafficking for forced labourpurposes and related questions in technical cooperation projects such as thosewithin the ambit of the Gender Promotion Programme and the Migrant Work-ers Branch. Work undertaken by the InFocus Programme on Crisis Responseand Reconstruction may also lead to technical cooperation relevant to eliminat-ing forced labour.

ILO ASSISTANCE


Improving the synergy between problems highlighted, research and technical cooperation

A closer relationship between problems highlighted with regard to implement-ing forced labour principles and rights and ILO technical cooperation and re-search would help the ILO work more effectively towards eliminating forcedlabour. Improving such synergy is the very essence of using the ILO Declara-tion as a promotional instrument for development. It sees fundamental princi-ples and rights at work as the starting point for the ILO’s promotional activities,identifying and overcoming bottlenecks, and using technical assistance in thepursuit of more equitable social and economic development. Before movingforward, it may be useful to glance at the past to provide pointers to the future.Since situations involving forced and compulsory labour touch upon the man-date of a number of United Nations bodies and other international agencies aswell as that of the ILO, an adequate initial assessment also has to look beyondthe assistance provided by the ILO itself.


2. International action againstforced labour: The context of ILO work

Complementary responsibilities towards a shared goal

Placing ILO work in context, the elimination of forced and compulsory labourhas been a concern of many international organizations, both within and out-side the United Nations system. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Joint United Na-tions/ILO Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour played an important role inidentifying the main problems of forced and compulsory labour throughout theworld at that time, and in preparing the ground for new international standardson both forced labour per se and contemporary forms of slavery.

Since then, certain distinctions have been made between slavery and forced la-bour. In terms of monitoring and supervisory procedures the ILO has heldprincipal responsibility for the abolition of forced labour, and the United Na-tions for the eradication of slavery. Yet in practical terms, the distinctions can-not be too rigid. For example, the United Nations Working Group onContemporary Forms of Slavery paid particular attention to trafficking in 1999,and to debt bondage in 2000.

Combined forces enhance the chance of success

When it comes to field projects and technical assistance in the area of forced la-bour, the ILO has frequently coordinated its efforts with other United Nationsagencies and international organizations. Joint projects with the United Na-tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have addressed the trafficking of children inAfrica; and projects with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO)have tackled debt bondage in Asia. These United Nations agencies have alsoundertaken important initiatives, supporting national measures to eradicateforced labour practices within their own areas of competence. An example isthe support by UNICEF to the Committee for the Eradication of Abduction ofWomen and Children in the Sudan.

Moving towards sustainable agriculture is only possible without forced labour

Within the United Nations system, the new sustainable agriculture and ruraldevelopment (SARD) approach encompasses the entire range of envir-onmental, economic and social actions related to agriculture and land use. Oneof the major functions of the “multifunctional character of agriculture andland”, a concept which emerged out of SARD, is to achieve greater socialequity and income opportunity for rural societies.1 This can only be done

ILO ASSISTANCE


without forced labour. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) couldalso be considered a natural partner in programmes to eradicate agriculturaldebt bondage, given the importance of land and tenancy reforms among themeasures needed to root out this particular system of coercive labour.

Outside the United Nations system, the International Organization for Migra-tion (IOM) has played an important role in the trafficking issue, particularly inEurope and Asia. The European Union and the Organization of Security andCo-operation in Europe (OSCE) have also been key actors in these issues in Eu-rope and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries; Interpol isanother case in point.2

It is not possible to do justice to the activities of all of these organizations as theymay relate to issues to be addressed by ILO technical assistance. Yet, since theILO does not operate in a vacuum, it is important to take them into account.

United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

The United Nations has established a number of treaty bodies to receive andanalyse reports from the States parties to its various human rights conventionsand covenants. Under the slavery conventions, States parties have agreed, butare not obliged by standing treaty body, to send information on measures im-plemented to the Secretary-General, who in turn communicates such informa-tion to the Economic and Social Council. Instead of a treaty body, theEconomic and Social Council established in 1975 a Working Group on Con-temporary Forms of Slavery (previously the Working Group on Slavery) underthe aegis of the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protec-tion of Human Rights.

The mandate of this Working Group is to monitor the existence of slavery andthe slave trade in all their practices and manifestations, and to review develop-ments in the field of slavery based on all available information. The WorkingGroup has developed a practice of receiving information from whichever gov-ernment may wish to present it, and also from NGOs. For instance, the 2000agenda featured a special item on debt bondage, and experts on the issue wereinvited to make submissions, with financial support from the United NationsVoluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. The WorkingGroup may elicit information or adopt recommendations that could assist theILO in designing technical cooperation projects to address forced labour prob-lems.3

International action on trafficking in persons being addressed by many institutions

The past decade has seen a marked rise in activities by the international com-munity against trafficking. Distinctions are sometimes drawn between the hu-man rights system on the one hand, and the crime prevention and criminaljustice system on the other — though these two sets of activity can often overlap.Before turning to the ILO’s own activities, this section briefly examines the ac-tivities and approaches of other international organizations, with particular ref-erence to the agencies and programmes of the United Nations system that areaddressing aspects of trafficking relevant to the elimination of forced labour.

1 The multifunctional character of agriculture and land. For a fuller explanation, see FAO/Nether-lands Conference on the Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land, 12-17 September 1999(Maastricht).2 Interpol recently (November 2000) organized a conference on trafficking, which brought togetherwide representation from the international community, op. cit.3 For instance, at its 24th session in 1999, the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slaveryadopted recommendations on issues including: traffic in persons and the exploitation of the pros-titution of others; prevention of trans-border trafficking of children in all its forms; the role of cor-ruption in the perpetuation of slavery and slavery-like practices; migrant workers; domesticworkers; the eradication of bonded labour and elimination of child labour; and forced labourgenerally.

ILO ASSISTANCE


Among the human rights treaty bodies of the United Nations system, the Com-mittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), theCommittee on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Committee (HRC),and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), haveall paid special attention to trafficking as they examined reports of States par-ties. Special Rapporteurs have also addressed issues such as trafficking relatedto child prostitution and child pornography. Furthermore, the Working Groupon Contemporary Forms of Slavery, of the Sub-Commission on the Commis-sion on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (which reports to the Com-mission on Human Rights) has held special sessions on trafficking in recentyears.

Integrating a human rights perspective

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) initiateda programme in March 1999 to integrate human rights in antitrafficking initi-atives, with an emphasis on law and policy development. Together with theCouncil of Europe, the OHCHR has developed a joint trafficking programmefor Eastern and Central Europe, with an emphasis on preventive measures. Itsfield office in Sarajevo has undertaken activities together with international or-ganizations including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in-tended to assist victims of trafficking; to facilitate the prosecution of traffickers;and to promote law reform and governmental responsibility. The OHCHR hasalso been active in antitrafficking measures in Asia and the Pacific, where it hasencouraged national human rights commissions to take up the issue.

Criminal justice playsa key role

As regards crime prevention and criminal justice approaches, in March 1999 theUnited Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP)launched its Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings. The aimof this programme is to highlight the involvement of organized criminal groupsin human smuggling and trafficking, and promote the development of effectivecriminal justice responses to these problems. The programme, consisting of bothpolicy-oriented research and targeted technical cooperation, has been devel-oped by the Centre for International Crime Prevention (CICP) and the UnitedNations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). TheCICP has been in charge of technical cooperation, and the UNICRI in chargeof research methodology and coordination. The International Criminal PoliceOrganization (Interpol) has recently created a new branch within its general sec-retariat to deal with trafficking. Its most recent international conference on traf-ficking in women (November 2000) recommended improved internationalcooperation to facilitate the prosecution of criminals involved in trafficking forsexual exploitation, as well as ratification of the new United Nations Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime and its accompanying Protocols.

Abolishing forced labour at the centreof development

In the areas of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance relatedto forced labour, a large number of United Nations and other internationalagencies are now involved in different ways. The United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) has addressed trafficking both in its global analysis, andincreasingly in country and regional programmes. Its Human Development Report1999, for example, identified the trafficking of women and girls as one of the crim-inal activities found to have increased with the rise of globalization. At the countrylevel, the UNDP has sometimes coordinated United Nations task forces on the is-sue. The UNDP has launched a regional project to combat the trafficking ofwomen and children in six countries of the Mekong subregion. The project isbroad-based, aiming inter alia to: create new mechanisms for dialogue and actionamong diverse stakeholders; support the implementation of community-based in-itiatives to prevent trafficking; and strengthen national and regional capacities forlaw and its enforcement, both against the perpetrators of trafficking and for thedefence of the human rights of the victims.

ILO ASSISTANCE


As a further example, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) haswaged campaigns throughout the developing world to alert young children tothe dangers of hazardous labour and the sex trade. A number of UNICEFcountry and regional offices have launched anti-trafficking projects, some ofthese in collaboration with the ILO itself. Country approaches have includedtraining workshops with law enforcement agencies on sensitization, investiga-tion and the establishment of women’s units.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has addressedthe trafficking of women as part of its Global Campaign for the Elimination ofGender-based Violence. It has been active particularly in Asia, where it workswith the ILO in providing technical assistance to women’s ministries and alsosponsors research and advocacy.4

The migration angle on labour trafficking

Of other international organizations, the International Organization for Mi-gration (IOM) deals with trafficking as a subset of migration concerns. It has im-plemented a number of programmes for the voluntary return and reintegrationof trafficked persons from a variety of locations, ranging from parts of Europeto Central America. Since 1996, the IOM has implemented a programme inthe Mekong subregion, combining return and reintegration of trafficked andother vulnerable women and children. It has also undertaken a series of majorresearch projects, exploring the prevalence of trafficking in Europe and possiblepreventive measures. Overall the IOM has played an important role in its con-ceptual and analytical work, identifying some weaknesses in present interna-tional approaches to trafficking and proposing methodologies for more rigorouswork in the future.

A regional dimension adds to the picture

An effective approach to trafficking also requires regional cooperation, giventhe cross-border movement of persons. At the Ninth Summit of the South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), held in the Maldives in1997, Heads of State or Government pledged to coordinate their efforts, andadopted a resolution calling for a regional convention against trafficking. Adraft text of a convention to combat trafficking in women and children for pros-titution has been prepared. Within Europe there have been multiple initiativesagainst trafficking, as indicated earlier in this Report.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been afurther player. An initial commitment was made by OSCEparticipating Statesto combat trafficking in its 1991 Moscow Document. In its 1996 StockholmDeclaration, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly expressed grave concernabout the practice of trafficking within and beyond OSCE borders, recognizingits link to economic transition and the problem of organized crime. More re-cently, it has appointed an Adviser on Trafficking Issues and prepared an actionplan for OSCE initiatives. This is a multifaceted programme, including in-creased attention to trafficking at the political level; integration of anti-traffick-ing measures into regular core activities; training for OSCE field missionmembers in the issues; and round tables in key destination countries to enhancevictim assistance and cooperation between the various stakeholders.5

4 UNIFEM: Trade in human misery: Trafficking in women and children: Asia region (South AsiaRegional Office, 1998).5 OSCE: Proposed Action Plan 2000 for activities to combat trafficking in human beings, op. cit.


3. Forced labour and rural workers: Past experience points to the future

Earlier ILO work on rural labour offers some clues

228. With so many international institutions active on issues relating toforced labour, it will be a challenge to avoid overlap. The ILO has a key roleto play in keeping the labour dimension on centre stage. Harking back to anearlier era, work done by the ILO and partner institutions on the issues ofrural labour provide some clues as to how forced labour problems could beattacked in an integrated way. The strong presence of forced labour practicesin rural areas makes this past experience particularly pertinent.

Eradicating indigenous serfdom through integrated programmes: The early experience in Latin America

Starting around the middle of the past century, the ILO began to make a sig-nificant contribution to the eradication of servile forms of agricultural labour indeveloping countries. This may be seen as part of a wider national and interna-tional push to reform backward agrarian systems, in the interests of both greatersocial equity and improved agricultural efficiency.

The ILO’s own concerted efforts to improve the living and working conditionsof the rural workforce date back to the early post-war period, particularly in thecase of indigenous peoples of Latin America. In 1946 the Governing Body ap-pointed a Committee of Experts to survey living and working conditions amongindigenous peoples throughout the world. Based on the work of this Commit-tee, the ILO developed a comprehensive and integrated action programme onthe living and working conditions of indigenous peoples, combining research,standard setting and an inter-agency action programme in which it assumed aleadership role. Its major 1953 publication on indigenous peoples6 contained ex-tensive information on the compulsory labour systems which were then wide-spread in the rural areas of Asia and Latin America. It also documented thevarious types of coercion and abuse in recruiting indigenous and tribal peoples,including the Latin American system of enganche.7

6 ILO: Indigenous peoples: Living and working conditions of aboriginal populations in independentcountries (Geneva, 1953).7 The recruitment system referred to earlier, whereby the labour recruiter receives a lump-sum pay-ment or commission for the workers delivered to an agricultural enterprise.


Working with partners helped achieve results

In terms of promotional assistance, a significant achievement of this period wasthe ILO-led Andean Programme. This programme began with the establish-ment of action centres in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru in 1954, and was extendedto other Andean countries over the course of the next decade. Its major aim wasto improve the living and working conditions of the indigenous peoples of theAndes, in order to facilitate their inclusion within the economic, social and po-litical life of their respective national communities. In addition to collaboratingwith various United Nations specialized agencies, the ILO also maintained co-operation with other international bodies, including the Inter-American IndianInstitute, the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Devel-opment Bank. It culminated in a multinational project for Andean communitydevelopment in the early 1970s, after which responsibility for implementationwas handed over to individual States.8 These programmes are credited withhaving set the stage for land reform and a concomitant reduction in the inci-dence of forced or compulsory labour in these countries.

The World Employment Programme and rural development

ILO activities concerning rural workers and development generally intensifiedbetween the 1950s and 1970s — a period that witnessed a commitment to re-distributive agrarian reform programmes throughout the developing world. Atthat time, other international organizations also gave prominence to equitabledevelopment in rural areas, promoting redistributive policies and land tenurereforms.

The ILO has made a very significant contribution through the research andprogramme activities of its World Employment Programme. This was comple-mented by the adoption of a number of new standards on the rural sector, cov-ering inter alia indigenous peoples, plantation workers, tenants andsharecroppers, rural workers’ organizations, and labour inspection in agricul-ture, as well as more general instruments of relevance to vulnerable ruralgroups, including instruments on employment policy, social policy and migrantworkers. This involved an implicit acknowledgment of the various relationshipsof control that can coexist in rural settings.

Freedom of association, social protection and developmental research and activities

ILO policy towards agricultural and rural workers displays three distinct fea-tures. The first concerns the right of association, with an appeal to governmentsto facilitate the establishment of strong and independent organizations of ruralworkers.9 This right comes to life when exercised in the form of collective actionto improve the situation of the workers concerned. The second feature lies inthe extension to rural workers of elements of the social protection institutions,including labour inspection, that are at least formally available to other work-ers. The third feature is distinctly developmental, with research and activitiesdevoted to cooperatives, tenants and sharecroppers and the work of rural work-ers’ organizations.10

The World Employment Conference of 1976 proposed a broad strategy tocombat poverty and low incomes based on employment promotion, particu-larly in rural areas. The ILO has undertaken wide-ranging research and assist-ance programmes on issues such as the determinants of rural poverty,

8 See J. Rens: “The Andean Programme”, in International Labour Review (Geneva, ILO),Vol. LXXXIV, No. 6, Dec. 1961, pp. 423-461; and J. Rens: “The development of the Andean Pro-gramme and its future”, in International Labour Review (Geneva, ILO), Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 6, Dec.1963, pp. 547-563.9 Though an early instrument addressed this issue in the Right of Association (Agriculture) Conven-tion, 1921 (No. 11), the Rural Workers’ Organisations Convention, 1975 (No. 141), reaffirmed thatfreedom of association was applicable to all categories of rural workers.10 ILO: Wage workers in agriculture: Conditions of employment and work, Report for discussion atits tripartite meeting on improving the conditions of employment and work of agricultural wageworkers in the context of economic structuring (Geneva, 1996).


plantation workers, agrarian systems and land tenure, the impact of new tech-nologies and recruitment systems, women in rural development, rural migra-tion and employment and participation, and organization of the rural poor. Anumber of special public works programmes have been carried out in develop-ing countries, often targeted at impoverished rural workers.11

Recent challenges of rural poverty

Rural concerns appear largely to have fallen down the list of the ILO’s prioritiesover the past decade. But the ILO is not alone. As the concern with redistribu-tive policies and structural reforms have disappeared from international devel-opment agendas, no agency has been able to deal effectively with a pattern ofrural poverty that is worsening in some areas. According to official data 75 percent of the world’s poor people live in rural areas.12 Pockets of poverty are con-centrated in remote areas with low quality land, often accompanied by a short-age of reliable rainfall or irrigation. The isolation of the population, who areoften ethnic minorities who may not speak the national language, poses partic-ular challenges for central policy-makers when it comes to eliminating forcedlabour practices. The term “rural workers” must also be viewed with caution,since this may mask the mix of income sources and relationships from whichthey derive their livelihoods (tenancy, smallholdings, seasonal employment, ru-ral non-farm income such as crafts or occasional construction work, etc.).

During the height of the adjustment era, the prevailing orthodoxies becamewell enough known. Policies generally aimed to promote market forces in agri-culture, making markets more flexible for land as well as labour, and removingsubsidies. In so far as land reform remained on development agendas, the em-phasis was on market-assisted approaches. On the whole, communal tenure sys-tems were considered a constraint to agricultural efficiency; and the trendtowards promoting individual land tenure, though in many ways positively re-ceived, may in some cases have increased the pool of those without asset secu-rity because their plots were simply too small. There are signs that some earlierapproaches are now being reviewed, amid concerns over the continuing esca-lation of acute rural poverty. A recent World Bank review, for example, recog-nized the advantages of communal tenure systems together with the importanceof a more equal asset distribution.13 Achieving greater social equality and in-come opportunity for rural societies also forms part of sustainable agriculture;this presupposes the elimination of forced labour.

Wage labourers and landless are the poorest

Land reform continued through the 1990s, albeit at a slower pace, with a shift tomarket-led reform that included competitive inputs and services for new small-holders. Yet one major problem has been the growth of absolute rural landless-ness or near-landlessness. Regional poverty reviews conducted by theInternational Fund for Agricultural Development confirm that in most of the de-veloping world, lack of access to land is associated with low incomes and ruralpoverty: landlessness and poverty risk go together in countries such as Chile,China, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, the Philippines, theUnited Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Wage labourers, especiallylandless or casually employed farmworkers, are almost everywhere among thoselikeliest to be poor, according to IFAD. Indigenous origin and location in re-mote areas also have a high correlation with poverty, particularly in Latin Amer-

11 ILO: The challenge of rural poverty; Progress report on research and technical cooperation con-cerning rural employment, agrarian institutions and policies, World Employment Programme, thirdedition (Geneva, 1985).12 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): Rural Poverty Report 2001; Thechallenge of ending rural poverty (New York, Oxford University Press, 2001), Ch. 1, pp. 1-8.13 K. Deininger and H. Binswanger: “The evolution of the World Bank’s land policy: Principles, ex-perience and future challenges”, in: The World Bank Research Observer (Washington, DC, WorldBank), Vol. 14, No. 2, Aug. 1999.


ica, and the exclusion of indigenous minorities from good land is also associatedwith persistent rural poverty in Asia. The barriers to progress for the rural pooroften form a vicious circle. A distinction between transitory poverty and chronicpoverty may have particular relevance as regards strategies for escape fromdebt-related forced or compulsory labour.

Why can women inherit debt bondage, but not land?

Rural poverty has a particularly serious impact on women, who remain dispro-portionately illiterate and asset-poor; and this tendency is growing. Breakingdown the barriers to women’s control of rural assets, especially land, is crucialin the fight against poverty. It is a cruel irony that in some countries a womanmay be subjected to a bonded labour debt but not be able to buy or inherit theland she could use to produce income to cancel it. The gender dimensionweighs in heavily, although there is much less female disadvantage in Lao Peo-ple’s Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, for example, onaccount of cultural and policy factors.

Taking freedom of labour for granted

The most recent report prepared by IFAD observed that achieving the targetof halving poverty by 2015 would only be possible if aid concentrated muchmore than in the past on reducing rural poverty through stimulating agricul-tural growth and especially food production, yield and employment. What isstriking about studies in this area is that they assume that rural labour is actingas a free agent — a circumstance that cannot always be taken for granted.Cross-sectoral policies on rural work could have an important impact on thelikelihood of people avoiding and escaping forced labour situations.


4. ILO technical assistance and technical cooperation in relation to the elimination of forced or compulsory labour

To date, forced labour has involved little technical cooperation

241. The ILO has long provided technical assistance in relation to ratifiedConventions. However, its research and technical cooperation activities onforced labour have occurred somewhat incidentally to the activities of pro-grammes that have other principal goals. These involve particularly work re-lated to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, improvement ofthe status of migrants and women workers (especially when victimized bytrafficking), promotion of microcredit schemes and policy support for publicworks projects that are free of forced labour. Four years from now, it shouldbe possible to identify criteria for assessing the effectiveness of technical co-operation projects undertaken in the context of the follow-up to the Decla-ration that are aimed specifically at making forced labour a problem of thepast. Ideas for such projects come in the first instance from ILO constituents,whether the suggestions are expressed directly in reports under the Declara-tion, in the dialogue occurring within the supervisory machinery, or in inter-action with ILO area offices and multidisciplinary advisory teams.

IPEC’s important contribution

Research and project activities undertaken within the framework of the Inter-national Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) havebrought revealing insights into practices involving debt bondage and traffick-ing. The programme received an added impetus from the adoption of theWorst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), which targetspractices (among others) such as child slavery, forced labour, trafficking, debtbondage, serfdom and prostitution. Important lessons can be learned from theIPEC experience to date, for analysing and coping with the promotion of em-ployment and recruitment systems as they affect both adults and children.

Building on earlier IPEC activities, other ILO units have been able to capitalizeon the research, data gathering, legislative inputs and other programme com-ponents in order to design programmes to eliminate forced labour as it affectsthe population in general. This can best be illustrated by the IPEC experiencein the Asian region, which has given rise to broader ILO programmes againstbonded labour and trafficking. In the African region IPEC activities, as yet at


an earlier stage of development, may eventually stimulate more comprehensiveprogrammes of action against forced and compulsory labour.

Developing statistical methods has been crucial

IPEC’s methodology has been of intrinsic value, both for addressing the morespecific concerns of child labour, and in generating the data, consensus and par-ticipation needed for the eventual concertation of broader social programmes.The development of statistical methods and data has been one crucial element,raising awareness of the degree of the problems and preparing the ground forsubsequent advocacy work. The Statistical Information and Monitoring Pro-gramme on Child Labour (SIMPOC), launched in 1998, has assisted countriesin collecting quality data and developing an understanding of child labourproblems. The IPEC methodology has also recognized the need for capacitybuilding, and the importance of expanding and strengthening networks of part-ners, including NGOs and other agencies of the United Nations system. In ad-dition to this, there have been comprehensive and direct action programmes towithdraw children from exploitative work; and to prevent child labour throughaddressing the root causes related to poverty, ignorance, inadequate systems oflaw enforcement, lack of development opportunities, and lack of remunerativeemployment opportunities for adults. Such a focus has inevitably drawn atten-tion to the structural factors behind child labour.

IPEC has also undertaken a number of rapid assessments of different aspects ofchild labour, including issues of forced and compulsory labour. These seek tocollect quantitative and qualitative information related to the worst forms ofchild labour, which are often very sensitive to investigate; and to describe themagnitude, character, causes and consequences of those forms of child labour.Rapid assessments having a bearing on forced labour, which are now under wayor planned, include child soldiers in the Philippines; child domestic workersin several African, Asian and Latin American countries; children in bondage inNepal; and child trafficking in that country and in the refugee camps of thecountries of the Mekong area.

Of the more than 80 IPEC projects aimed at children working in domestic serv-ice, 32 of them work with children who are subjected to the worst forms of childlabour. These have resulted in the discovery of instances of forced labour be-yond those that are already known. IPEC has begun to address the restavek phe-nomenon in Haiti, which involves girls being placed in private homes toperform domestic work under conditions that can constitute forced labour.Aimed at girls who are at risk or already in domestic service, IPEC activities aregeared to analysis of the situation, prevention, capacity building and rehabilita-tion. Interventions of this type are expected to expand in other countries as well,since children in domestic service are among the most vulnerable and exploitedof all. In addition, IPEC cooperates in projects to combat labour traffickingwhere children are involved.

Relevant IPEC activities in the African region

In late 1999, IPEC, with financial support from the United States, launched a su-bregional programme of action on child trafficking in nine countries of Centraland Western Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire,Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Togo). Impetus for the programmecame from a subregional workshop on trafficking in child domestic workers, inparticular girls in domestic service, organized by UNICEF together with theILO in Benin in July 1998.

By late 2000, a synthesis report, compiled on the basis of eight country studies,had identified the main trends. It examined cultural and historical factors be-hind current patterns of child labour migration and placement; the main traf-ficking routes; and the distinctions between sending countries, receivingcountries, and those which were a mixture of both. It found reasons to believethat the economic growth of some African countries may have helped to aggra-


vate the problem of trafficking in children, with the disintegration of traditionalfamily structures also seen as a contributing factor. Socio-cultural, economic,juridical and political factors were also identified as having played a role, in thatthe work of children tended to be socially accepted, and that in the villages ofsome countries the authority of the chief was placed de facto above the nationallaw. On the whole, it was problematic to study the phenomenon of traffickingbecause of the sensitivity of the topic, and because it was difficult to draw dis-tinctions between cultural placement and placement for labour exploitation.

The first phase of the project has clearly elicited a positive response. All govern-ments have expressed their will to combat this trafficking; and in Benin, Maliand Togo specific programmes have been formulated by governments orNGOs. Efforts at bilateral collaboration are under way. For example, there hasbeen an agreement between Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo to facilitatethe repatriation of the victims of trafficking, and most of the countries con-cerned have prepared national plans of action.

Relevant IPEC activities in Asia

In addition to its work in Nepal (see below), IPEC has been active in relationto forced labour among children in Indonesia, the Philippines and SriLanka. In Indonesia, IPEC has assisted in the rehabilitation of childrenworking on the jermal fishing platforms. These are the children who, rather thanattend school, can be confined to the jermal platforms day and night for as longas three months. While most recruitment is conducted through adult workersfrom the same or nearby villages, there have been cases of forced recruitmentand kidnapping which have targeted the most vulnerable children such as streetchildren. Through IPEC activities, counselling services are offered to the chil-dren, and project staff receive advice on appropriate interventions and activi-ties. Linkages are established with local health facilities and there are formal ornon-formal education programmes to help children complete their nine yearsof basic education. In the case of older children who are of employable age, theyare referred to the skills training programmes run by the Ministry of Manpoweror the Ministry of Education and Culture. Parents of the working children areprovided with credit, enabling them to undertake income-generation activities.In the Philippines, a similar programme provides for the rehabilitation ofchildren who have been engaged in deep-sea fishing and diving.

In Sri Lanka, IPEC has planned an action programme to prevent the forcedconscription of children and youth by militant groups. In this country, prov-inces in northern and eastern regions are affected by armed conflict, resultingin large-scale displacement of the civilian population. The planned SarvodayaAction Programme to prevent child labour will focus on certain areas of north-ern and eastern Sri Lanka, particularly the internal displacement camps.

IPEC and forced labour in Latin America

In early 2001, IPEC embarked on a programme for the elimination of commer-cial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in Brazil and Paraguay.The programme aims at identifying gaps in the existing legal systems on thesubject and incorporating recommendations for improved legislation at the na-tional level. It also seeks to establish reliable information concerning the com-mercial sexual exploitation of children, including possible child traffickingnetworks, which can be used in the design and implementation of public inter-ventions in this area. The project is strategically located in border areas of thetwo countries, covering Foz do Iguacu in Brazil and Ciudad del Este in Para-guay. It envisages broad-based cooperation between the various sectors of na-tional and local governments, the social partners and civil society organizations.IPEC has also been investigating networks for the procuring of child domesticworkers in the Andean region.


Trafficking of children in the Mekong subregion

In mid-1997, with support from the United Kingdom, IPEC launched itsproject for combating the trafficking in children and their exploitation in pros-titution and other intolerable forms of child labour in the Mekong subregion. Afirst phase of the project involved a programme of research into the root causesof trafficking within the subregion. An initial report provided new insights intothe problem, and formulated suggestions for an active programme of measuresto combat trafficking. The findings, together with an ILO-IPEC proposedframework for action, were presented at a consultation meeting held in Bang-kok in July 1998. The purpose of the meeting — attended by key technical per-sonnel from Cambodia, China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic,Thailand and Viet Nam — was to secure preliminary stakeholder ownershipof any new project, and to combat trafficking as a cross-border and subregionalissue with the commitment of all five countries.

A second stage of the project, which commenced in December 1999, now aimsmore broadly at reducing labour exploitation of women and children, by com-bating trafficking in the Greater Mekong subregion. It is now implemented byIPEC in collaboration with the ILO’s Gender Promotion Programme.

A decision was taken to include women in the scope of the project for a numberof reasons. First, trafficking for labour exploitation — though gender-selectivein that women and girls tend to be more vulnerable to it than men and boys —cannot usefully be addressed through a cut-off point in terms of age. The cir-cumstances that lead women and young girls into trafficking tend to be similar.Moreover, particularly in marginalized communities, many young girls under18 or even 15 years of age tend to be married or beyond the age of compulsoryschooling, and may have to contribute to their own and their family’s liveli-hood. Second, the involvement of women is crucial to any effective strategy tocombat trafficking in children. Measures to deal with the root causes of traffick-ing, such as poverty and broken families, are likely to prove more sustainablewhen there is a specific focus on mothers and in particular on the female headsof household who tend to be the poorest of the poor. Third, the role of localwomen in community watch efforts is key.

Capacity building, legislative reform,law enforcement, alternative income opportunities

The Greater Mekong project therefore has a capacity-building componentaimed at creating an environment in which it is possible to combat traffickingin women and children effectively. Coordination mechanisms have been estab-lished at subregional, national and local levels; and assistance has been providedfor improving legislation, law enforcement and policy-making. The projectaims to promote laws that adopt a harmonious approach to trafficking in eachof the countries concerned. In target areas, it will monitor access to the servicesof real or potential value to trafficked women and children, or to those at risk.The project is also based on the premise that trafficking can best be preventedby empowering families, in particular female family members, to take greatercontrol over their lives through more productive livelihoods and a wider rangeof economic opportunities. And training will be provided to selected stake-holder groups including members of the justice system and other law enforce-ment agents, local government officials and community-based organizations. Ineach country, a national project advisory committee is to be comprised of rep-resentatives of the ILO, the Government, employers’ and workers’ organiza-tions and NGOs.

ILO work relating to migrant workers also helps fight forced labour

Migrant workers, a group highlighted in the Preamble to the ILO Declaration,run the risk of ending up in situations of forced labour. Over the past two de-cades, the ILO has extended assistance to many governments in strengtheningtheir supervision over the recruitment of migrant workers and developing effec-tive policy and legislative frameworks.14 In Asia, a UNDP-funded regional pro-gramme on international labour migration (1986-93) facilitated knowledge-sharing and information flow among 13 countries on topics such as: the effec-


tive selection, licensing and regulation of the activities of private recruitmentagencies; the listing of agencies reported to have engaged in malpractices; theadoption of a common “model contract”; and the strengthening of the servicesof labour attachés abroad. A similar but smaller programme was carried out bythe ILO for six Arab States in the early 1990s. In 1994 the ILO established aninformal network on foreign labour in Central and Eastern Europe which hasprovided information on best practices in the field of labour migration policy.Another project stemmed from an ILO/UNHCR regional meeting in 1992and brought the Governments of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia togetherwith those of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain to considerprogrammes that would reduce the need of Maghrebians to leave their coun-tries for employment abroad. More recently, the ILO has also undertaken stud-ies on trafficking of migrants in several countries, including the CzechRepublic, Hungary, Lithuania, and the Russian Federation, and pro-vided input into the consultations leading up to the adoption of the new UnitedNations instruments on trafficking in persons. Internal migration involvingforced labour in Bolivia is being addressed by a Declaration project funded bythe Netherlands.

Other activities related to trafficking, migration and gender promotion

The Gender Promotion Programme in collaboration with the MigrationBranch is also developing a manual of “good practices”, aimed at preparingwomen better for international migration and protecting them from exploita-tive and abusive forms of labour. By providing specific examples of best prac-tices and approaches, together with the reasons for their success, it aims to alertgovernments, ILO constituents and other interested groups to the scope for im-proved collaboration in protecting the rights of female migrant workers, includ-ing the right to escape forced labour.

Coordinated action against bonded labour in Nepal

ILO efforts to eliminate bonded labour in Nepal have involved a range of re-lated ILO action, starting in recent years with IPEC. Since its inception in Ne-pal in 1995, IPEC has given high priority to the elimination of child bondedlabour in particular and bonded labour in general. It has undertaken a range ofcomplementary activities to this effect, including research, technical assistancefor new legislation to abolish bonded labour, workshops, and targeted projectactivities in those areas of the country where bonded labour has been mostwidespread. Building on this extensive experience, IPEC and the Infocus Pro-gramme for Promoting the Declaration have recently prepared a more generalproject to combat the bonded labour system.

In August 1998, IPEC and UNICEF launched a joint project entitled “To-wards elimination of child (bonded) labour in Nepal”. The project was sup-ported by several Italian trade unions in collaboration with the Confederationof Italian Industry (CONFINDUSTRIA), and implemented in the districts ofwestern Nepal where children were working as kamaiya bonded labourers inbrick kilns, stone quarries, hotels, restaurants and carpet factories. Its main ob-jectives have been to increase the capacity of employers’, workers’ and non-gov-ernmental organizations to prevent and combat child labour; and to preventchild bonded labour in communities, withdrawing selected children from bond-age-type labour situations and providing them and their families with alterna-tives. The project has revolved around children between the ages of 6-14working in debt bondage in agriculture, industry and the recreation sector, withspecial attention given to girls. The employers’, workers’ and non-governmen-tal organizations have each been implementing different components of theproject (see more on initiatives by the social partners below).

14 ILO: Migrant workers, op. cit.


These and related project activities have been complemented by research andanalysis. An ILO-commissioned study analysed the factors which have contrib-uted to the perpetuation of the bonded labour system in Nepal, and contrib-uted towards the design of a concerted strategy for dismantling the practice.15

It proposed a strategy for transforming the kamaiya relationship into a wage-la-bour relationship, reducing dependence on the employer for credit, and identi-fying alternative sources of credit. Separate recommendations were formulatedto the Government, trade unions, NGOs, and international agencies and bilat-eral donors, identifying distinct roles for these different actors in an overall strat-egy for structural transformation.

Bringing the pertinent ministries together to tackle the problem

As part of the ILO’s efforts to encourage the Nepali Government to eliminatebonded labour, a national workshop was organized jointly with the Ministry ofLand Reform and Management (MOLRM) in November 1999, to develop anational plan of action against child bonded labour. A wide range of nationaland international organizations, including United Nations agencies and donorgovernments, participated. The workshop developed a framework of actionsand recommended a set of interventions to combat bonded labour, including:education, training and income-generation activities; complementary policydevelopment; legislative action; and preparation of ratification of pertinent ILOConventions. The ILO has provided technical inputs to the drafting of theBonded Labour (Abolition) Bill in line with the ILO’s forced labour Conven-tions. It has also helped the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare(MOWCSW) identify certain gaps in the existing relevant laws of the country.16

Comprehensive project under the Declaration blends in earlier efforts

To consolidate these five years of experience in Nepal, IPEC, the Social Fi-nance Unit and the Declaration Programme have now embarked on plans fora comprehensive project to combat the bonded labour system. Since previousILO efforts, while helpful, were rather limited and scattered, the new project isintended to address bonded labour and child bonded labour in a more holisticmanner, targeting the families of bonded workers. Moreover, a recent amend-ment to the Trade Unions Act and the introduction of minimum wages for ag-ricultural workers have provided part of the requisite legal and institutionalframework to complement the problems addressed by the Bonded Labour Bill.The new project has two main components, the first for institutional and capac-ity building, including strengthening the capacity of the agricultural workers’organizations, and the second for direct support to bonded labourers and theirfamilies.

The contribution of microfinance initiatives: Using a continuous dialogue approach

A further thematic approach of ILO work with effects on the elimination offorced labour has been the use of microfinance initiatives to improve the accessof bonded labourers to financial markets. The Social Finance Unit in the ILOhas been pioneering microfinance techniques to deal with the problem of forcedlabour by strengthening the economic position of actual or potential victims.

Continuous dialogue among ILO constituents, and the search for mutuallyagreed solutions, are key features of the approach. Institutions have to be tai-lored to the cultural environment and local needs. While still at an early stageof development, the approach has been of particular importance in the SouthAsian region, where an innovative new ILO project aims to use these tech-niques to break the cycle of debt bondage. Steps have now been taken to de-

15 S. Sharma, op. cit.16 In the meantime two separate draft Bills on trafficking were formulated in Nepal, one with assist-ance from UNICEF, the other with the assistance of the United Kingdom Government. At the timeof writing the MOWCSW had incorporated the most important elements of these two separatedrafts, preparing a consolidated version that has been passed to the Ministry of Law and Justice forreview.


velop more general programmes of financial credit and assistance in the Asianregion in order to tackle the roots of the problem, which are seen to lie in thedeficient operation of rural labour and financial markets.

Promoting microfinance in South Asia

In 1999, the ILO’s Social Finance Unit launched a three-year project, with sup-port from the Government of the Netherlands, aimed at preventing exploit-ative forms of labour that are linked to family indebtedness. Microfinanceschemes constitute the main tool in a project that covers Bangladesh, India,Nepal and Pakistan. Its basic objective is to induce existing microfinance in-stitutions to develop, test and offer savings and loans products specifically de-signed for the families at risk of falling into bonded labour situations.

The underlying premise behind the project is that greater access to financialservices at the village or grass-roots level can reduce the comparative impor-tance of the landowner or employer as a moneylender, and thereby minimizethe importance of debts as a cause for bonded labour. However, given thatbonded labour exists because of a complex web of relations that are not exclu-sively financial, the project also includes additional areas of activity. Comple-menting its core function of providing microfinance, it also organizesaccompanying support in the areas of education, primary health care, income-generating activities, mobilizing public opinion and general empowerment.

The project builds on earlier methodological work carried out by the Social Fi-nance Unit under the bondage eradication standards and tools (BEST) pro-gramme, which has examined the economic, financial and also culturalcircumstances under which impoverished families fall into bonded labour situ-ations. The research component aims to identify ways in which debt repay-ments through labour services may be corrupted into debt bondage. Researchis also focusing on such social practices as dowry, given that this can be a prin-cipal factor behind the indebtedness of the families affected. Attention is alsobeing paid to the linkage between economic empowerment and increased lev-erage in social dialogue, when addressing situations of severe labour exploita-tion.

While the initial emphasis was on the prevention of indebtedness, a very posi-tive response in India, Nepal and Pakistan to the way in which the projecthas addressed bonded labour has contributed to some shift in focus towards therehabilitation of freed bonded labourers in order to prevent them from fallingback into bondage. In India, the project is being implemented in the State ofAndhra Pradesh, where it will strengthen groups of former bonded labourersand support efforts for further identification of possible pockets of bonded la-bour. Other Indian states have also expressed interest in participating in theproject. In Bangladesh, where there is no official survey of the situation ofbonded labour, the project will concentrate mainly on situations where familyindebtedness induces exploitative forms of labour. Renewed efforts by the Gov-ernment of Pakistan to combat bonded labour will be supported by providingmicrofinance services to the bonded labourers who have recently been released.In Nepal, the project will supplement efforts of the project referred to above,by providing microfinance services to the recently freed kamaiyas.

Employment-intensive infrastructure programmes

Another type of ILO work related to eliminating forced labour has been in pub-lic works programmes. In 1995, Commitment 3 of the Copenhagen Declara-tion on Social Development and Programme of Action of the World Summitfor Social Development, which addressed the promotion of full employment,renewed interest in ILO work related to employmentintensive infrastructureprogrammes that had begun in the 1970s. By demonstrating how infrastructurebuilding and maintenance can be done with cost-effective labour-based meth-ods, the ILO Employment-Intensive Investment Programme has contributed tocreating sustainable employment with locally available resources. The Pro-


gramme helps establish capacity in the domestic construction industry by devel-oping small enterprises which create jobs through the application of labour-based methods. Early concerns over the possible use of forced or compulsorylabour in schemes such as these led the ILO to develop ways to introduce re-spect for fundamental labour standards as part of the Programme.

Based on its experience over the years, the Programme has drawn up generalguidelines on labour policies and practices that include, among other issues,specific suggestions for ensuring that labour in employment-intensive projectsis in fact voluntary.17 Among them are promotion of community involvementin projects and constant monitoring to ensure that programme objectives arebeing achieved, along with a series of safeguards. These include: telling workerswhat they are to be paid; educating them so that they can double-check to en-sure proper payment of wages; reporting infringements; and being alert to signsof unfree labour, particularly where intermediaries are involved. The ILO’scontribution in this area could be usefully employed in projects sponsored byother organizations such as the World Bank. Indeed, the Bank recently renewedits interest in public works projects as key to its new social protection strategy.Similarly, the ILO has advised the World Food Programme for many years onways to avoid forced labour in its field activities.

Getting ideas from Declaration reports and the supervisory machinery

Ideas for ILO technical assistance and technical cooperation arise from dia-logue between the ILO and its constituents. The follow-up to the Declarationoffers governments the opportunity to examine their own situations and to for-mulate requests for technical cooperation. Employers’ and workers’ organiza-tions can also suggest them. In its first annual report under the Declaration, theGovernment of Nepal acknowledged that there had been a traditional practiceof debt bondage, and described steps already taken to address it. The Govern-ment then abolished the practice in law, and called upon the international com-munity to join with it, trade unions and NGOs in taking steps to eliminate it inpractice. The ILO and other donors responded quickly. The second round ofannual reports has elicited requests for a study to determine the scope and na-ture of the problem in Madagascar. Ideas may be spurred by the Interna-tional Labour Office based on its own research, standards-related and advocacywork.

Supervisory procedures can lead to significant action

Given the very high number of ratifications of Conventions Nos. 29 and 105,the supervisory machinery may play an active role in suggesting ideas for tech-nical cooperation. The work of two major Commissions of Inquiry over the pasttwo decades, first concerning allegations involving Haiti and the DominicanRepublic in the early 1980s, and most recently concerning forced labour inMyanmar, has been described earlier. Since 1990, allegations made in repre-sentations under article 24 of the ILO Constitution in relation to the forced la-bour Conventions have been declared receivable by the Governing Body for:Brazil (Conventions Nos. 29 and 105); Guatemala (Conventions Nos. 29and 105); Iraq (Convention No. 105); Myanmar (Convention No. 29); andSenegal (Convention No. 105). In most instances the Government’s attentionhas been drawn to problems of forced labour in law and practice, as well as tomeasures that could be taken to deal with the problem.

In addition, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions andRecommendations and the Conference Committee on the Application ofStandards regularly address a range of issues under the forced labour Conven-tions. The work of this supervisory machinery can be a rich source of ideas fortechnical assistance or technical cooperation that might assist governments —

17 D. Tajgman and J. de Veen: Employment-intensive infrastructure programmes: Labour policiesand practices (Geneva, ILO, 1998).


at their request — in coming closer to the goal of eliminating all forms of forcedor compulsory labour. With this in mind, a few themes highlighted by thosebodies are recalled here for purposes of generating such ideas. This thematicapproach to technical cooperation would also foster information exchangeamong countries, thus speeding up the spread of successful strategies.

Bonded labour in Asia: Statistics, release and rehabilitation programmes, enforcement

Accurate data not only contribute towards the development of the most effec-tive systems to combat bonded labour but also provide a sound basis for assess-ing the effectiveness of those systems. The supervisory machinery has pointedto the need for further research, baseline data, case studies and improved statis-tical methodology to ascertain the real incidence of bonded labour in the Asianregion, particularly in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It has also detectedthe need for more effective law enforcement. A technical cooperation pro-gramme could perhaps be built around these themes, focusing in the first in-stance on statistical concerns and detailed research on the nature of theproblems in specific agricultural and industrial sectors.

In India, for instance, the Government has been urged to undertake a com-prehensive survey, using a valid statistical methodology broken down by gen-der. It would call upon the services of an independent body to assist indeveloping the methodology and conducting the survey. Similar concernshave been expressed regarding statistics on bonded labour of children andadults in Pakistan. Both countries have also been asked to produce more de-tailed information on programmes for the release and rehabilitation ofbonded labourers, and on effective arrangements for taking action againstthose persons responsible for instigating and perpetuating bonded labour.

Forced labour in agriculture, forestry and remote rural areas

Allegations of forced labour in agriculture, plantations and new areas of ruraldevelopment have been a concern of the CEACR in parts of Asia and LatinAmerica. The impact of these practices on such vulnerable groups as indige-nous peoples and other ethnic minorities is a frequent feature. In Indonesia,for example, there is information suggesting that tribal Dayak people have beensubjected to conditions of debt bondage in industrial logging concessions, in-dustrial forest plantations and other community-designed community develop-ment projects in East Kalimantan. The need to safeguard traditional forms ofland use and occupation has been stressed, as have increased protective meas-ures such as inspections, investigation or supervision particularly as regardswages actually paid, the operation of company stores, the system of vouchers inuse in these stores and other aspects of the conditions of work in the forestry sec-tor.

In Latin America, the persistent attention paid by the ILO supervisory bodiesto the plight of Haitian migrant workers in the Dominican Republic led toa range of technical advisory services and technical cooperation activities relat-ing to: recruitment methods; stabilization of the plantation labour force; pub-licity to inter-State agreements; payment of wages and contracts ofemployment; freedom of movement for plantation workers; non-confiscation ofHaitian workers’ documents; improved labour inspection services; and regular-ization of the status of Haitians who had lived for a long period of time in theDominican Republic. Since that time the Government of the DominicanRepublic has been seeking to tackle these and related problems, in close col-laboration with the ILO; the results have been described earlier in the text.

In Brazil, where allegations concerning forced labour and debt servitude in ru-ral areas have been made by the Latin American Central of Workers (CLAT)and the ICFTU, the supervisory bodies have concentrated on deficiencies in thelegislation itself and especially the inadequacy of its enforcement. While the lawhas recently increased penalties for conduct related to forced labour practices,


concerns remain about the effectiveness of inspection and the failure to imposesanctions, in particular in rural areas. The labour inspectorate is unable, alone,to combat and suppress cases of forced labour; it must be able to rely on the sup-port of a strong judicial system capable of imposing severe punishment on vio-lators within a reasonable period of time. The Government has been urged toconsider adopting consolidated legislation on forced labour establishing bothcivil and criminal responsibility in such cases, and giving labour prosecutors thenecessary competence to bring criminal cases against persons who subject oth-ers to forced labour practices. Such measures could become part of a broadertechnical cooperation initiative.

In Paraguay and Peru the concerns have centred on the exaction of forcedlabour from indigenous peoples. In Paraguay, where a 1997 communicationfrom the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) had indicated that the work-ing conditions of indigenous persons in ranches suggested an extensive prac-tice of forced labour, the Government has been requested to provideinformation on the possibility of establishing adequate labour inspection serv-ices in areas with a high concentration of indigenous peoples. In Peru, wherea 1997 communication from the WCL referred to forced labour practices af-fecting indigenous peoples in the Amazon region, the Government has beenrequested to provide information on the measures that it intends to take toremedy the situation, and on sanctions it has imposed.

The comments of the supervisory bodies have often — but not always — beenfollowed by important initiatives by the government concerned and technical as-sistance from the ILO. More systematic research could follow up on the issuesinitially raised by the supervisory machinery, to identify recent trends and pos-sible policy and project interventions aimed at improvements. The ILO has re-cently embarked on research of this nature in Bolivia and Peru. In Bolivia, ina project initiated under the impetus of the Declaration and with funding fromthe Netherlands, the emphasis has been on the recruitment and employmentconditions for seasonal migrant workers in the commercial agriculture of theeastern lowlands. In Peru research has focused mainly on the coercive practicesrelating to mineral extraction.18

Slavery-like practices in Africa

In parts of Africa, the ILO supervisory bodies have dealt with slavery-like practices.An example is Mauritania, where issues of contemporary forms of slaveryhave continued to be raised over the past decade. In recommendations to elim-inate slavery-like practices, the focus has been on law reform; for example, theproposal has been made to extend the prohibition on any form of forced labourto work relationships that may have existed from historic times. The projectnow being launched under the Declaration, supported by a contribution fromFrance, will be broader in scope, taking into account the socio-economic con-text in the search for ways to overcome obstacles to the elimination of forcedlabour. A similar project in Benin, started in 2000, also addresses forced labouramong other matters.

In Sudan, there has been extensive reference to slavery and abductions withinthe context of the armed conflict. The Government has referred to efforts beingmade to investigate into and resolve the continuing allegations of slavery andslavery-like practices, such as those made by the ICFTU in 1999. Consultations

18 Comments have been presented by the National Federation of Miners, Metal Workers and Ironand Steel Workers of Peru (FNTMMSP) concerning alleged dishonest hiring practices known as en-ganche on the part of individuals, for the most part in Puno and Cuzco, who recruit from miningenterprises holding licences from the National Directorate of Mines. See Report of the Committee ofExperts, 1999. A recent study has been conducted on forced labour aspects of mining in the Alti-plano region of Peru: K. Romero: Trabajo forzoso en la minería artesanal de oro en el Perú — Elcaso de la Mina La Rinconada Puno (manuscript, 2000).


between the Government and the ILO are exploring ways in which technicalcooperation might make a contribution to addressing the concerns in a practi-cal way.

Trafficking for forced labour purposes

Trafficking, either of children or adults, has occasionally been addressed incountry-specific observations. An example is Bangladesh, where the Govern-ment had referred to an increase in the phenomenon of trafficking, mainly forprostitution.19 Questions raised about penalties imposed for exaction of forcedlabour, and their enforcement, as well as different government initiatives, couldcontain the germ of a project idea that would encompass a broad range of ac-tivities.

19 United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding ob-servations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Bangladesh, NewYork, seventeenth session, 7-25 July 1997.


5. Involvement5. of the social partners

Forced labour, while severely condemned, has not been top priority for activities

285. While many policy statements endorsing the principle of the elimina-tion of all forms of forced or compulsory labour have been issued by em-ployers’ and workers’ organizations, the topic has not often been at centrestage in their own activities. This may simply reflect the general lack of in-terest in forced labour problems within international and national forums asa whole, or a low level of presence in the economic sectors or geographicalareas where the phenomena are most often found. For workers’ organ-izations, restrictions on freedom of association of workers in agriculture anddomestic service in many countries 20 seriously impede their ability to dosomething about forced labour. The subject matter itself may seem rather re-moved from the daily concerns of organized employers. Nevertheless, therehave been some recent developments on both the part of employers’ andworkers’ organizations.

Employers have long taken a firm stance against forced labour

At the International Labour Conference and other meetings, employers’ organ-izations from around the world have vigorously condemned the use of forcedlabour. The work of these organizations in their own countries to promotesound business and labour practices could certainly contribute towards pre-venting forced labour situations. Projects to strengthen these organizations andto raise awareness around issues of social responsibility may thus be seen as in-direct support to the goals of the ILO Declaration and its follow-up, includingof course to the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour. Em-ployers’ organizations and the ILO could provide advisory services to employ-ers or landowners who are seeking alternatives to forced labour where it hasbeen detected.

The Global Compact, the United Nations system business partnership arrange-ment, offers a prime opportunity for helping businesses understand how theymay be unwittingly contributing to the existence of forced labour. It also offerssources of information about how to run a commercial, service or agriculturalundertaking in a way that avoids the emergence of debt bondage or other formsof labour servitude. This may involve putting pressure on governments to altercertain framework conditions such as policy on pricing or taxation that is pos-

20 ILO: Your voice at work, op. cit.


sibly discouraging the employment of labour under conditions of full freedom.The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) is preparing a trainingpackage for its members on the Global Compact and it will, of course, cover theelimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.

Codes of conduct add another tool

Codes of conduct adopted by employers on their own initiative sometimes con-tain direct or indirect references to the avoidance of forced labour within thesupply chain.21 The Management and Corporate Citizenship Programme inthe ILO is tracking the burgeoning number of various types of codes and re-searching the methods enterprises use to give effect to their labour policy objec-tives, with special attention to enterprises in developing countries. A relatedarea of work is looking at ways in which respect for basic principles incorpo-rated in international labour standards may help enterprises increase their pro-ductivity and competitiveness through improved social performance.

Enterprises sometimes negotiate voluntary private initiatives with workers’ or-ganizations. For instance, in September 2000, the International Union of Food,Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Asso-ciations (IUF), the Latin-American Coordination of Banana Unions (COL-SIBA), the National Federation of Labour of the Philippines, and threemultinational enterprises involved in banana production, issued a joint commu-niqué in which the firms pledged their commitment to the forced labour Con-ventions, among others. The International Federation of Building and WoodWorkers (IFBWW) and one of the world’s largest retail furniture chains haveconcluded a code of conduct on workers’ rights, including freedom from forcedlabour, slavery or non-voluntary work in prisons. It specifies that workers arenot to be asked to make deposits or leave their identification as pledges withtheir employers.22

Trade unions have played an essential watchdog role

In relation to the elimination of forced labour, activities undertaken by workers’organizations have essentially fallen into the categories of engaging in advo-cacy, research, organizing, bargaining and building alliances. At the interna-tional level, organizations of the social partners have certainly played a majorrole in bringing situations of forced and compulsory labour out into the open,at the International Labour Conference and in other forums. As already seen,the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU),23 the WorldConfederation of Labour (WCL), the World Federation of Trade Unions(WFTU) and other international, regional and national trade unions have ac-tively used the supervisory machinery in relation to forced labour. In addition,debt-related servitude has been challenged jointly by trade unions and NGOssuch as Anti-Slavery International. Much of the effort of workers’ organizationsaround forced labour has been linked to concerns over child labour, particu-larly in the areas of agriculture and domestic service.

Among the international trade secretariats, the IUF has sought ways tobuild strategic alliances with the non-waged and self-employed sectors in ru-ral areas. As a study commissioned by the IUF concluded, “waged agricul-tural workers have become potential allies of disadvantaged rural groupssuch as subsistence peasants, tenants and sharecroppers, the unemployedand the landless … During the last decade many peasant organizations have

21 J. Diller, “A social conscience in the global marketplace? Labour dimension of codes of conduct,social labelling and investor initiatives”, in International Labour Review (Geneva), Vol. 138, No. 2,1999, pp. 99-129.22 http://www.ifbww.org/~fitbb/INFO_PUBS_SOLIDAR/FaxNews_124.html [consulted on 15 Dec.2000].23 A. Linard: Migration and globalization: The new slaves (Geneva, ICFTU, 1998); the ICFTU laun-ched a campaign against the use of forced and slave labour worldwide in 1999 which presses forthe suspension of the European Union generalized system of preferences in Myanmar and Pakistan.


grown stronger in relation to the broadening of their structures and the sup-port they get from other groups such as trade unions and NGOs”.24

Workers’ organizations take actionat the nationaland local level

At the national level, a number of trade union organizations are offering sup-port to cooperatives and organizations of smallholders by assisting them withservice and helping them adapt their structures. This is occurring in, for exam-ple, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Honduras, India, Mali, Nic-aragua, Niger, the Philippines and Togo.25 Strengthening participatoryorganizations forms part of the strategy that workers’ organizations have beenpursuing to have respect for core labour standards embedded in policies on sus-tainable agriculture.

National-level workers’ organizations have at times played an important role indocumenting problems of forced labour. An example is a 1998 publication onbonded brick kiln workers in Pakistan, by the All Pakistan Federation of La-bour (APFOL).26 This study examines the implementation of a 1989 SupremeCourt decision, aimed at bringing an end to bonded labour in the brick kiln in-dustry and other economic sectors. It reviews government initiatives on the sub-ject, and also presents the findings of APFOL’s own sample survey covering 74brick kilns in the area of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in late 1997. The study putsforward a number of recommendations, concerning: the extinguishment ofdebt; the need to strengthen vigilance committees; and education and trainingprogrammes. While the responsibility of the State is highlighted, the study alsostresses the need for strong public opinion if action against forced labour is tobe truly effective. “The ultimate responsibility for taking initiative and comingto the rescue of unfortunate brethren in brick kilns, creating awareness abouttheir plight and moulding public opinion in their favour, will lie on the shoul-ders of trade unions and their federations, because brick kiln workers belong totheir fold. This is a stupendous responsibility and a big challenge for the tradeunions to accept.”27

A national consultation on bonded labour resolves to act

In India too, there are signs that trade unions are now stepping up their effortsto support bonded labourers. In an important recommendation, India’s StudyGroup on Bonded Labour, referred to earlier in the text, urged that effortsshould be made to organize bonded labourers at both local and national levels.In September 2000, representatives of major Indian national trade unions andsocial activists held a national consultation on forced labour, the ILO Declara-tion and reporting mechanisms. They decided to set up a permanent consulta-tive body to collaborate in efforts for the abolition of forced labour and debtbondage in India and resolved to form trade unions in sectors where bondedlabourers existed. The media at national, state and local levels were urged tofocus adequate attention on the incidence of bonded labour, and on the harass-ment which bonded labour activists suffered at the hands of their employers.28

In Latin America, workers’ organizations in Brazil have provided assistancefor the victims of forced labour. This has taken many forms, ranging from pol-icy advice to specific programmes of support and public campaigns. In the mid1990s representatives of trade unions, including the Agricultural Workers Con-federation (CONTAG), participated in the National Forum against Violence,together with government officials and members of human rights organizations.

24 IUF: Land and Freedom, chapter on “Summary of key issues”, http://www.iuf.org/iuf/lf/01.htm25 IUF: ibid.26 All Pakistan Federation of Labour: Bonded Brick Kiln Workers — 1989 Supreme Court Judgmentand After (Islamabad, 1998, Khursheed Printers).27 ibid.28 Centre for Education and Communication: Trade Union-NGO Consultative Body to fight for theabolition of forced labour in India, press release (New Delhi, 26 September 2000).


Local trade unions have also participated in important awareness-raising cam-paigns aiming to alert potential migrant workers of the danger of moving to re-mote areas.

The social partners are involved in ILO projects

Organizations of employers and workers are also playing an increasing role inILO projects that seek to eliminate forced labour. By way of example, the con-sensus-based approach of the Social Finance Unit for addressing bonded labourseeks the involvement of the social partners throughout its projects. The ItalianSocial Partners’ Initiative in Nepal, implemented under the auspices of theIPEC programme for tackling child bonded labour under the kamaiya system,has designed components to be undertaken by employers’ and workers’ organ-izations respectively. This is a particularly constructive approach; not only doesit ensure that the elimination of this form of bonded labour enjoys some visibil-ity in social dialogue at the national level, but it also reinforces the involvementof employers’ and workers’ organizations in project implementation.Under this project, the ILO and the Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC)agreed in May 1999 to an action programme to eliminate debt bondage of chil-dren in hotels, restaurants and carpet industries in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhak-tapur, Chitwan, Kaski and Dang districts. It has targeted around 1,000children, including migrants and non-migrants. The strategies are to removechildren from work and to rehabilitate them with support for their education,vocational training and micro-enterprise development. An advisory committeeincludes representatives from a broad cross-section of government, industry,the social partners and civil society.In the same year, the ILO and the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Un-ions (GEFONT) signed an agreement for a further action programme for theelimination of bonded child labour in western Nepal. The project commencedin June 1999, when it started to identify social workers for each of five districts,and set up 15 village development committees to implement the programme.These committees have held mass meetings with the Kamaiya Liberation Front(KLF) to spread awareness about child bonded labour and bonded labour moregenerally. GEFONT has also organized five trade union seminars in differentdistricts to develop action against bonded labour, and to encourage implemen-tation of the minimum wage for agricultural workers. It has been involved incampaigning for legislation and in identifying kamaiya families for the develop-ment of cooperatives.

Such initiatives, while not yet common, illustrate how the involvement of or-ganizations of employers and workers in projects to combat forced labour mayreinforce their impact.

Box 5.1Marking Abolition of Slavery Day — 2 December

The 2nd of December is International Day for theAbolition of Slavery.

On the occasion in 2000, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan commented that, “New forms ofslavery, such as sexual exploitation of children, childlabour, bonded labour, serfdom, migrant labour, do-mestic labour, forced labour, slavery for ritual or reli-gious purposes and trafficking pose a great challengeto all of us.” He saluted all those who had committedthemselves to ending slavery in its various forms.

Following a decision reached at an earlier two-daynational consultation involving Government, tradeunions and non-governmental organizations in India,celebrations to observe 2 December as National NoForced Labour Day occurred throughout India. Rallies,workshops and public awareness campaigns and peti-tions marked the occasion to demand the abolition ofbonded labour in practice.

Sources: The Hindu, 3 Dec. 2000. Press release located at http://www.unhcr.ch.


6. Assessing effectiveness:Concluding comments

Drawing on lessons from the past

In this first Global Report on the elimination of all forms of forced or compul-sory labour, it is important to draw some key lessons from past experience —but above all to look forward.

At certain historical periods, the ILO has played a significant role in eradicatingforced labour and the conditions that foster it, using the various means at theILO’s disposal. A framework of standards has been essential, to provide the leg-islative basis and social consensus around which a programme of promotionalactivities could be built. In cases in which problems have been largely rural, theILO has been able to launch programmes for the promotion and protection ofrural workers’ rights, and to complement these with specific employment anddevelopment interventions.

There is an inherent danger of spreading resources too thinly, and promisingmore than can be delivered. The Andean Indian Programme of the 1960s and1970s may be viewed as a success story because, while having some fairly broadsocial and developmental objectives, it had a target population in a specificnumber of countries and enjoyed the support of the governments and socialpartners of the region. In this context, the ILO became a leading United Na-tions agency by adopting new international standards on rural workers and pro-moting the participation of a range of other international agencies in acoordinated programme. The rural aspects of the World Employment Pro-gramme, and the more recent IPEC programme, have displayed similar fea-tures, with a mix of relevant standards, research and technical cooperation withfinite and realistic objectives.

Forced labour has proved a difficult issue to tackle owing to its very character-istics, and also because of the reluctance of many governments to recognize theproblem. But the recent example of Nepal, which has decreed bonded labourabolished and is seeking immediate ILO support for its eradication in practice,shows what can be done to make the most of the present situation. Yet evenwith political will, the very identification of a problem and the promotion ofawareness within society as to the need to combat it can pose difficult chal-lenges.

Action is needed across the spectrum

All of this suggests that action is called for across the spectrum, using a range oftools. The nature of modern forced labour calls for a truly global programme


of awareness building, backed by meticulous research and development of ap-propriate statistical methods to identify the problems and their dimensions.Targeted and high-profile technical cooperation programmes in specific re-gions could: address the structural roots of forced labour; strengthen the occu-pational organizations that challenge it; conduct broad campaigns against it;and establish and reinforce the labour administration and criminal justice insti-tutions needed to back up policy interventions with punishment of the perpe-trators. There is a parallel need to embed these initiatives in the broader decentwork agenda, to prevent forced labour from emerging in the first place.


Part III. Towards an action plan against forced la-bour


1. The need for a concerted action1. plan

Concentrating effortsto put the issueon the radar screen

305. Forced labour as such has not really caught the world’s attention. Ittakes different forms — and their common features might seem abstract atfirst glance. Yet forced or compulsory labour makes headlines almost dailyin stories of trafficking in persons, imprisonment in sweatshops and theslavery-like conditions on some plantations and even in private homes. Thegravity of some of the situations described in this Report calls for a concertedprogramme of international action, in which the ILO may in some cases takethe lead. This final part puts forward some ideas about how such a pro-gramme of action might be developed, and what its overall approach and dif-ferent components could be. A concentration of effort would place forcedand compulsory labour more firmly on the agenda of governments and ILOconstituents, and of the international community as a whole.


2. The scope of an ILO action plan2. against forced labour:2. General considerations

The first step: Raising awareness and identifying the problem

The initial challenge is to raise awareness of forced labour in all its forms amongthe ILO’s own constituents and among international development agencies.This is a complex but vitally important task. For effective progress to be made,it is imperative that the global community understand that:

� the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour is aprerequisite for the success of broader development goals such assustainable agriculture and poverty reduction for women and men in allsectors;

� forced labour is a continuing problem of serious proportions, ratherthan a relic of a bygone age;

� action will be required on several fronts.

An essential first step is that member States should be assisted to identify the na-ture and dimensions of forced labour within and across their national borders.As the Expert Advisers observed in their first review of annual reports under theDeclaration, it was encouraging that some countries had recognized the prob-lem. Such frankness merits a positive response. Thus the ILO has been able torespond swiftly in support of Nepal’s new programme against bonded labour.The second annual review has brought forward new statements of interest incarrying out detailed investigations into forms of forced labour that are reportedto occur, and these too merit support. Madagascar is a case in point.

In the context of responding to such requests, the ILO now has the opportunityto launch a concentrated new programme of data gathering and research, anal-ysis, awareness building and practical activities. Major analytical tasks still needto be undertaken to capture the diverse facets of forced labour. Several memberStates have indicated that they would need assistance even to identify the natureof the problem, and to provide relevant data (e.g. Madagascar). Developingappropriate survey techniques and methodology, adapted to different econo-mies, would be a daunting exercise in itself.

There will always be differences between incremental and more radical ap-proaches to the eradication of forced and compulsory labour in diverse culturalsettings. Certain dilemmas were identified in the discussion of bonded labour in


Asia. What is the role of social finance when coercive labour systems are deeplyrooted in economic and also political structures that protect elites? What hap-pens when an international agency or NGO aims to redeem bonded workers orchattel slaves by paying their “debts”? How useful is it to eradicate bonded la-bour by law without putting accompanying policies in place to ensure rescue,rehabilitation, and alternative employment and livelihood in the longer term?Questions of this nature abound in relation to the sustainable elimination offorced labour.

A rangeof interventions possible

Despite such caveats, there would seem to be strong arguments for a coordi-nated action plan by the ILO to assist member States in the eradication offorced and compulsory labour. Member States may wish to deal separately withsuch problems as forced labour in agriculture, domestic work or the informalsector; bonded labour; trafficking for forced labour purposes and other issues.They may wish to place initial emphasis on statistical methods and data gath-ering, in order to assess the incidence of forced labour in different sectors of theeconomy; or they may need assistance with law reform and intercountry law en-forcement cooperation. As would often appear to be the case, they may requirehelp with strengthening labour inspection and judicial systems for the more ef-fective prosecution of those responsible. Member States may also wish to em-phasize prevention programmes, identifying those most at risk and seeking todevelop alternative forms of livelihood. They can and should provide the legis-lative framework to foster organizational initiatives for the workers affected bybonded labour. Pilot and sectoral programmes could prepare the ground for al-ternative livelihoods for persons released from forced labour situations. What-ever the emphasis chosen, the overall strategy should include:� problem identification (surveys, mapping);� awareness raising (addressing the different audiences of the general

public, the victims and the perpetrators);� prevention (targeted warnings, investigative mechanisms, policies and

action that avoid forced labour);� remedies (release, rehabilitation, etc.);� punishment of the perpetrators.

Heighteningthe visibilityof ILO work

In a complementary fashion, the ILO should make more visible its initiatives togive concrete effect to the commitment to provide technical cooperation underthe Declaration and its follow-up. At the country level it may be best to concen-trate in the first instance on a limited number of high-profile situations, wherethe government has demonstrated the political will to address the problems.Concentrating publicity on extreme cases may also enhance understanding ofwhat forced labour is, since the term is sometimes bandied about rather casuallyto refer to a wide range of substandard working conditions.


3. Forced labour: A common global3. responsibility

A global commitment is needed

An effective programme against contemporary forms of forced labour requiresa strong global commitment from a number of organizations within the UnitedNations system and its specialized agencies, and from regional bodies and de-velopment banks. Long-standing problems of forced or coercive labour mightbe linked with agrarian institutions that are badly in need of reform from theviewpoint of sustainable agriculture, productivity and human rights concerns.Trafficking in persons, while it displays forced labour dimensions of direct con-cern to the ILO, also needs to be addressed from other perspectives. The ILO’swork combating forced labour can support the efforts of other institutions —but only if they have greater awareness of it.

Unless the ILO acts in close collaboration with partner agencies, it will onlyhave a limited impact on many of these concerns. It may take a leadership po-sition as regards the labour and employment aspects of these problems, but onmany issues it cannot act alone. A major effort is required to increase interna-tional awareness of the dimensions of compulsory labour and of the labour mar-ket aspects of phenomena related closely to it. The ILO can continue to offer itsexpertise in relation to forced labour to development institutions that have goneon record as wanting to avoid such practices in their own activities. More de-tailed guidelines could assist them in briefing governments and private contrac-tors on ways in which to ensure that they do not unwittingly aid the emergenceof new or the perpetuation of old patterns of forced labour.


4. Specific issues for future action

Thematic research and analysis

A tailor-made programme of research is required to identify the exact local, so-cial, cultural and economic factors that, in certain countries and under certaincircumstances, give rise to or sustain forced labour. No one, it seems, would ar-gue that the use of forced labour is an economically viable proposition for anyState. Indeed, States are bound to eliminate it. The leadership of the businesscommunity as a whole is also committed to the eradication of forced labour sys-tems. And yet some forms of forced labour can clearly be highly profitable ac-tivities for criminal gangs and individuals who step over the line of humandignity in their behaviour. A deeper understanding of how forced labour oper-ates in practice can pave the way for more effective action against the perpetra-tors. The follow-up to the Declaration presents an opportunity for countries toassess the situation, involve the social partners, review national legislation, iden-tify action needed, build coalitions to undertake it, and engage in awarenessraising.

Sharpening the focuson who is affectedby forced labour

It is also important to pinpoint more precisely which groups of the population,by gender, age and ethnic origin, are most affected. The enhanced vulnerabilityof children to forced or compulsory labour is well known. There is reason to be-lieve that women and men differ in their particular risks of new and differingforms of coercion. And there is evidence that indigenous peoples and other ra-cial or ethnic minorities are especially vulnerable. The incidence of forced la-bour among such groups in different regions, as well as their attitudes anddefence mechanisms, need to be documented on a more systematic basis. TheUnited Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held from 28 August to 1 Septem-ber 2001 in Durban, may provide an additional source of information thatcould advance the state of knowledge on forced labour.There are also indications that forced and compulsory labour can easily affectmigrant workers. The ILO’s own operational programme has so far focusedmainly on international migration for employment. At the national level in var-ious continents, certain forms of internal migration, for example seasonal mi-gration in commercial agriculture or migration to cities to engage in domesticwork, are particularly likely to be associated with debt bondage. These issuesneed to be explored further and an examination made of: recruitment and re-


patriation methods; payment systems; conditions of work and housing; andforms of representation and redress.

Coming to grips with the labour market dimension

It would seem that, on the whole, the labour market aspects of forced or com-pulsory labour have not been examined in the light of current conditions. Whyis forced or compulsory labour persisting in the face of poverty reduction strat-egies and more open economies? Focus so far has been on the push, but not thepull, factors. Why does it exist in some poverty contexts but not others? Howare broader macroeconomic prescriptions such as greater labour market flexi-bility and adjustment policies impacting on the incidence of forced or compul-sory labour? What can be done within the context of macroeconomic andsectoral policy to prevent or eliminate instances of forced or compulsory la-bour? How has pursuit of decentralization policies impacted on the govern-ment’s ability to prevent, detect and remedy forced labour? Research beingundertaken by the ILO Socio-Economic Security Programme on issues andcontrol may provide some pointers — but much will remain to be done.

Forced labour and trafficking

What is the ILO’s niche in relation to trafficking?

With so many human rights, humanitarian and development agencies now ad-dressing different aspects of trafficking in persons, it is important to identify theparticular niche for the ILO. The ILO is now developing its own strategy andhas embarked on a limited number of projects focusing on prevention of labourtrafficking for those at risk. The knowledge base is also expanding. It could setup a broader programme to investigate and document the conditions of personstrafficked for forced labour purposes in all regions, as a contribution to moreeffective pursuit of the perpetrators. Such an approach could involve efforts torelease and rehabilitate the victims, both in their countries of origin and incountries where they work in conditions of forced labour.

A key question is the role that the ILO and its constituents might play whenfaced with organized crime and sophisticated criminal cartels. It certainly hascompetence over labour inspection, and improved labour administration canwork creatively with law enforcement agencies to stamp out abusive conditionsin underground enterprises. Criminal investigations conducted by others, in-cluding those of trafficking across borders, could be aided by expertise in labourinspection as well as other fields. The Government of France, for example,takes such a cross-ministerial approach, involving the ministries responsible forjustice, customs, social security and labour in pursuing clandestine operationsthat rely on trafficked labour. More general awareness of the ILO Declarationand the fundamental human rights Conventions — and also of more specificinstruments on migrant workers, employment agencies and avoidance of abusesin payment practices — can obviously be of value, as can shared experienceamong labour inspectorates. The massive growth of the shadow economy, andof the vast numbers of vulnerable persons who fall victim to it, represent a mon-umental challenge for the ILO’s social partners as well.

Although the ILO adopted a relatively low profile in the preparation of the newUnited Nations Convention on Organized Crime and its two Protocols on thetrafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, the ILO definition of forcedor compulsory labour is implicitly recognized by these recent instruments. TheILO knowledge base in this area, including through reporting under the ILODeclaration and in relation to ratified Conventions,1 could lend support to stoptrafficking for forced labour purposes.


There is a need to define and articulate as clearly as possible the specific role ofthe ILO and its constituents, and of the national agencies responsible for the en-forcement of labour law, in enhancing national and international efforts tocombat the scourge of trafficking that ends up as forced or compulsory labour.

Addressing forced labour through rural development

A comprehensive strategy against forced labour must address the roots of theproblem, which very often lie in the lack of income and asset security of the peo-ple whose freedom is at stake. Overall, this may require some reinforcement ofthe ILO’s technical capacities in relation to rural employment and develop-ment, the strengthening of rural workers’ organizations, and the creation of theconditions for genuine social dialogue in a rural setting.

Elimination of forced labour is partof sustainable development

This might be pursued through a variety of innovative approaches to rural de-velopment. Within the United Nations system there is now an increasing em-phasis on partnerships for poverty reduction, involving different agencies inaccordance with their specific areas of competence. There might also be linksinvolving the ILO, the United Nations and the private sector, as for exampleunder the Global Compact. Under this scenario, the ILO can seek the inclusionof a specific component for the eradication of forced labour in any rural devel-opment programme that is planned or under way in an area where its incidencehas been detected. Greater attention might be given to eradicating forced la-bour in the context of pursuing sustainable agriculture and rural developmentpolicies. This could include: awareness raising; legal support; microcredit; con-trol of the activities of recruiting intermediaries; and other activities as relevant.In countries where a serious incidence of forced labour has been detected, theILO could also encourage governments to include forced labour concerns in ac-tion taken within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework(UNDAF). UNDAF provides the operational framework for donor and agencycoordination that is designed to treat structural and social concerns on the samefooting as macroeconomic and financial issues. In countries where forced la-bour is a significant problem, its elimination belongs squarely within compre-hensive development frameworks. Similarly, ILO work planned for givingcountry-level expression to the decent work concept would create an opportu-nity to develop the data and arguments to support such an approach.

A look at all stages of migration is needed

Rather than support rural development only in places of origin, the ILO couldalso develop integrated projects that address: the entire cycle of recruitment;transport; employment conditions in the place of destination where there is arisk of forced labour occurring; and repatriation to the place of origin. This ap-proach is best adapted to cases of seasonal labour migration in commercial ag-riculture, either within or across national frontiers, where there have beenindications of coercive recruitment and employment practices. It would be of

1 At its December 2000 session, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions andRecommendations requested all governments to include in their next reports under ConventionNo. 29 information on measures taken or contemplated to prevent, suppress and punish traffickingin persons for purposes of exploitation. It requested information on measures designed tostrengthen the active investigation of organized crime with regard to trafficking in persons, the ex-ploitation of the prostitution of others and the running of sweatshops, including: the provision ofadequate material and human resources to law enforcement agencies, the specific training of lawenforcement officers to address the problems of trafficking in persons, and international coopera-tion between law enforcement agencies with a view to preventing and combating the trafficking inpersons.


particular importance in cases of large-scale migration, for example those in-volving indigenous workers in Latin America to the sugar, cotton, coffee andfruit harvests. Certain national programmes have already sought an integratedapproach to these concerns, such as those of the National Rural Workers’ Pro-gramme in Mexico which addresses living, recruitment, transport and workingconditions in places of both origin and destination, and also throughout the mi-gratory cycle. Approaches of this nature could well be planned and supportedby the ILO in other countries and regions where rural migrant workers are atrisk of coercion.

Labour inspection and law enforcement

Lateral support for enforcing a ban on forced labour

Stamping out forced labour requires particular vigilance by law enforcementinstitutions. Special programmes, such as those established at the federal levelin Brazil to tackle forced labour in remote and rural areas, appear to have paidsome dividends. The strengthening of labour inspection services can obviouslybe an important measure, and preventive labour inspection strategies offer con-siderable promise in the case of eliminating forced labour.2 Training labour in-spectors to keep a watchful eye for situations that might involve forced labourwill also be important. Yet formal sector institutions are generally inadequateto investigate forced labour allegations in the rural and informal sectors. Thereis a need to explore innovative measures for addressing the problems, in consul-tation with the social partners. One option, that can also be used as a tool formobilization, is to seek relief for the victims of forced labour through well-pub-licized public interest litigation. Another is to form broad civil society coalitions,with the participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations, and to bringinstances of forced labour to the attention of such public bodies as Ombuds andnational human rights institutions. Religious organizations have often beenpowerful allies in the fight against forced labour. Similar coalitions can also beformed at the local level, in areas where forced labour problems have been de-tected.

The initiatives would need to be documented, and lessons of best practicewidely disseminated. The Nepal project will be a case in point, but thereshould be others as well to provide models for the design of similar emergencyas well as longer term programmes.

Statistics

Given the current state of knowledge, this Global Report has not ventured over-all statistics concerning the incidence of forced and compulsory labour aroundthe world today. Yet attempts should now be made to devise appropriate meth-odologies to permit detection of forced labour practices in labour market infor-mation and other statistics. Where direct statistics are unavailable, appropriateproxies could be identified. Reliable data would facilitate the tracking ofprogress between global reports on the elimination of all forms of forced orcompulsory labour at the four-year intervals called for by the follow-up to theILO Declaration.

While it is clearly critical to have a firmer grasp of the dimension of the numbersof bonded labourers involved, the need for data is not limited to the supply sideof the equation. Gaining a clearer picture of the profiles of persons who hold

2 This strategy, being developed as part of the ILO’s SafeWork Programme, is explained at: http://mirror/public/english/protection/safework/labinsp/index.htm


others in bondage would provide useful clues on how to eliminate the practicein a sustainable way. Well publicized statistics on prosecutions and penalties forthose having violated the law may in themselves have a certain deterrent effect.

Putting the spotlight on domestic work

Eliminating forced or compulsory labour occurring in the context of domesticwork poses special challenges. But they must be met. The phenomenon has im-portant gender and child labour aspects, and is sometimes the destination pointfor the victims of labour trafficking. IPEC initiatives in this area have developedpromising approaches. The ILO could enhance its own action on domesticwork as well as encourage other institutions to do the same, with the aim ofgaining a clearer picture of how forced or compulsory labour manifests itself indomestic work, and of ascertaining what the best options for tackling this prob-lem in various national contexts for both children and adults might be.

Reaching out to the vulnerable:Challenges for the social partners

For employers’ and workers’ organizations, tackling forced or compulsory la-bour may mean reaching out beyond their normal clients and constituents. Thevictims are the vulnerable who are difficult to organize — at least along conven-tional trade union lines — and who are almost invariably too poor to pay reg-ular dues. The perpetrators tend to be business renegades or criminals who donot belong to employers’ organizations or chambers of commerce or industry.

There have been many cases where workers’ organizations have shown theirsolidarity with the victims of forced labour. National trade unions have alsoconducted and published important research, bringing forced labour problemsto the attention of their national authorities. But trade unions and employers’organizations have been generally far less active in this area than in other areas.The ILO, in its work to support the activities of these organizations, could en-courage them to take up the forced labour cause with renewed vigour.

A special programme against bonded labour

The ILO has recently intensified its work for the prevention of bonded labour,and the rescue and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, in certain Asian coun-tries. The governments of the region have demonstrated a willingness to involvethe ILO in programmes for its eradication. The launch of new Declaration Pro-gramme projects and the regional South Asia programme of the Social FinanceUnit to tackle bonded labour through microfinance techniques, are importantnew developments. And yet a huge amount remains to be done, in both analyt-ical and data-gathering work, and in practical programmes for its effective erad-ication. The follow-up to the Declaration now presents an unprecedentedopportunity to come to grips with this long-standing problem, affecting perhapsmillions of workers.

A wide range of measures and institutions should tackle forced labour

An effective programme against bonded labour requires a holistic approach,with the cooperation of a number of different international agencies. This can-not be seen as an exclusively labour problem. An effective and permanent re-habilitation of bonded labourers would require a range of diverse measures,


including: land questions; data collection; construction of low-cost dwellingunits and sanitation; provision of stable and durable employment; enforcementof minimum wage; education of children of bonded labourers; protection ofcivil rights; sensitization of society at large as to the rights of the groups that aremost likely to fall prey to bonded labour situations. And this list is not exhaus-tive.

Thus, here is a real opportunity for the ILO, in collaboration with governmentsand the social partners in the countries concerned, to launch a significant inter-national programme of action against a social plague which governments, de-spite their legislative and practical efforts over the past three decades, have hadso much difficulty in addressing effectively. An integrated programme againstbonded labour would concern many different ministries and other actors in thecountries concerned. At the international level, the ILO itself could play thelead role in launching a comprehensive promotional programme to assist gov-ernments in eradicating one of the most serious structural problems of forcedlabour in the modern world. Experience with such a programme could instructsimilar initiatives aimed at other sectors, such as domestic work, where millionsof the poor find themselves in situations of forced labour.


5. Final remarks

There is no excuse for forced labour in the twenty-first century. The ILO Dec-laration has provided the opportunity to remind us that forced labour is unfor-tunately still very much with us, albeit in pockets, around the globe. It hascreated a renewed chance for governments to recognize its existence, for theILO to encourage their efforts to eliminate it, and for the social partners to con-tinue to pursue this cause for human freedom.


Suggested points for discussion

1. Do the broad forms of forced labour identified in the Report — (i) forcedlabour in the form of chattel slavery, debt bondage, etc., found primarily inrural areas; (ii) forced labour situations related to trafficking of persons; and(iii) certain forms of prison labour — capture the totality and the reality ofall forms of forced or compulsory labour in today’s world?

2. Why do rural forced labour and trafficking-related forced labour arise incertain circumstances where poverty is present but not in others? What othercrucial factors come into play?

3. How does the relative status of women and men, girls and boys, and var-ious ethnic, racial, religious and age groups within a society affect their vul-nerability to situations of forced labour? What are the implications forstrategies to eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labour?

4. To address rural forced labour, what can various institutions of govern-ment and employers’ and workers’ organizations do — individually and to-gether — to raise awareness among victim populations? To release them? Toensure that they do not fall back into situations of forced labour? To makesure that others do not take their place?

5. What are the political, legislative, administrative and other hurdles tocombating trafficking-related forced labour within the countries of origin? Inthe countries to which the victims are trafficked? What can various institu-tions of government and employers’ and workers’ organizations do to over-come these hurdles?

6. How do freedom of association and the effective recognition of the rightto collective bargaining relate to the elimination of all forms of forced orcompulsory labour?

7. Where forced or compulsory labour has been eliminated, what have beenthe key factors for this success? What types of technical cooperation seem tooffer particular promise for eliminating forced or compulsory labour prac-tices?

8. In the case of labour trafficking, what is the ILO’s appropriate niche?Should the elimination of forced or compulsory labour be given greater em-phasis in the work of the ILO? Concretely, in which ways?


9. What sort of progress in the elimination of all forms of forced or compul-sory labour should be seen between this first Global Report and the nextone? How should this be measured? What additional issues should be ad-dressed in the next Global Report on this topic?

Annexes


Annex 1

ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up

Whereas the ILO was founded in the conviction that social justice is essential touniversal and lasting peace;

Whereas economic growth is essential but not sufficient to ensure equity, socialprogress and the eradication of poverty, confirming the need for the ILO topromote strong social policies, justice and democratic institutions;

Whereas the ILO should, now more than ever, draw upon all its standard-set-ting, technical cooperation and research resources in all its areas of compe-tence, in particular employment, vocational training and working conditions, toensure that, in the context of a global strategy for economic and social develop-ment, economic and social policies are mutually reinforcing components in or-der to create broad-based sustainable development;

Whereas the ILO should give special attention to the problems of persons withspecial social needs, particularly the unemployed and migrant workers, andmobilize and encourage international, regional and national efforts aimed at re-solving their problems, and promote effective policies aimed at job creation;

Whereas, in seeking to maintain the link between social progress and economicgrowth, the guarantee of fundamental principles and rights at work is of partic-ular significance in that it enables the persons concerned to claim freely and onthe basis of equality of opportunity their fair share of the wealth which theyhave helped to generate, and to achieve fully their human potential;

Whereas the ILO is the constitutionally mandated international organizationand the competent body to set and deal with international labour standards,and enjoys universal support and acknowledgement in promoting fundamentalrights at work as the expression of its constitutional principles;

Whereas it is urgent, in a situation of growing economic interdependence, to re-affirm the immutable nature of the fundamental principles and rights embodiedin the Constitution of the Organization and to promote their universal applica-tion;

The International Labour Conference,

1. Recalls:


(a) that in freely joining the ILO, all Members have endorsed theprinciples and rights set out in its Constitution and in the Decla-ration of Philadelphia, and have undertaken to work towardsattaining the overall objectives of the Organization to the best oftheir resources and fully in line with their specific circumstances;

(b) that these principles and rights have been expressed and devel-oped in the form of specific rights and obligations in Conventionsrecognized as fundamental both inside and outside the Organiza-tion.

2. Declares that all Members, even if they have not ratified the Conven-tions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of mem-bership in the Organization, to respect, to promote and to realize, ingood faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the principles con-cerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conven-tions, namely:

(a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right tocollective bargaining;

(b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;

(c) the effective abolition of child labour; and

(d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment andoccupation.

3. Recognizes the obligation on the Organization to assist its Members, inresponse to their established and expressed needs, in order to attainthese objectives by making full use of its constitutional, operational andbudgetary resources, including by the mobilization of external re-sources and support, as well as by encouraging other internationalorganizations with which the ILO has established relations, pursuant toarticle 12 of its Constitution, to support these efforts:

(a) by offering technical cooperation and advisory services to pro-mote the ratification and implementation of the fundamentalConventions;

(b) by assisting those Members not yet in a position to ratify some orall of these Conventions in their efforts to respect, to promote andto realize the principles concerning fundamental rights which arethe subject of those Conventions; and

(c) by helping the Members in their efforts to create a climate foreconomic and social development.

4. Decides that, to give full effect to this Declaration, a promotionalfollow-up, which is meaningful and effective, shall be implemented inaccordance with the measures specified in the annex hereto, which shallbe considered as an integral part of this Declaration.

5. Stresses that labour standards should not be used for protectionist tradepurposes, and that nothing in this Declaration and its follow-up shall beinvoked or otherwise used for such purposes; in addition, the compara-tive advantage of any country should in no way be called into questionby this Declaration and its follow-up.


Annex

Follow-up to the Declaration

I. Overall purpose1. The aim of the follow-up described below is to encourage the efforts

made by the Members of the Organization to promote the fundamentalprinciples and rights enshrined in the Constitution of the ILO and theDeclaration of Philadelphia and reaffirmed in this Declaration.

2. In line with this objective, which is of a strictly promotional nature, thisfollow-up will allow the identification of areas in which the assistance ofthe Organization through its technical cooperation activities may proveuseful to its Members to help them implement these fundamental prin-ciples and rights. It is not a substitute for the established supervisorymechanisms, nor shall it impede their functioning; consequently, speci-fic situations within the purview of those mechanisms shall not be exam-ined or re-examined within the framework of this follow-up.

3. The two aspects of this follow-up, described below, are based on exis-ting procedures: the annual follow-up concerning non-ratified funda-mental Conventions will entail merely some adaptation of the presentmodalities of application of article 19, paragraph 5(e), of the Constitu-tion; and the Global Report will serve to obtain the best results from theprocedures carried out pursuant to the Constitution.

II. Annual follow-up concerning non-ratified fundamental Conventions

A. Purpose and scope

1. The purpose is to provide an opportunity to review each year, by meansof simplified procedures to replace the four-year review introduced bythe Governing Body in 1995, the efforts made in accordance with theDeclaration by Members which have not yet ratified all the fundamen-tal Conventions.

2. The follow-up will cover each year the four areas of fundamental prin-ciples and rights specified in the Declaration.

B. Modalities

1. The follow-up will be based on reports requested from Members underarticle 19, paragraph 5(e), of the Constitution. The report forms will bedrawn up so as to obtain information from governments which have notratified one or more of the fundamental Conventions, on any changeswhich may have taken place in their law and practice, taking due ac-count of article 23 of the Constitution and established practice.

2. These reports, as compiled by the Office, will be reviewed by theGoverning Body.

3. With a view to presenting an introduction to the reports thus compiled,drawing attention to any aspects which might call for a more in-depthdiscussion, the Office may call upon a group of experts appointed forthis purpose by the Governing Body.

4. Adjustments to the Governing Body’s existing procedures should beexamined to allow Members which are not represented on the Gover-ning Body to provide, in the most appropriate way, clarifications which


might prove necessary or useful during Governing Body discussions tosupplement the information contained in their reports.

III. Global Report

A. Purpose and scope1. The purpose of this report is to provide a dynamic global picture relat-

ing to each category of fundamental principles and rights noted duringthe preceding four-year period, and to serve as a basis for assessing theeffectiveness of the assistance provided by the Organization, and for de-termining priorities for the following period, in the form of action plansfor technical cooperation designed in particular to mobilize the internaland external resources necessary to carry them out.

2. The report will cover, each year, one of the four categories of funda-mental principles and rights in turn.

B. Modalities1. The report will be drawn up under the responsibility of the Director-

General on the basis of official information, or information gatheredand assessed in accordance with established procedures. In the case ofStates which have not ratified the fundamental Conventions, it will bebased in particular on the findings of the aforementioned annual follow-up. In the case of Members which have ratified the Conventions con-cerned, the report will be based in particular on reports as dealt withpursuant to article 22 of the Constitution.

2. This report will be submitted to the Conference for tripartite discussionas a report of the Director-General. The Conference may deal with thisreport separately from reports under article 12 of its Standing Orders,and may discuss it during a sitting devoted entirely to this report, or inany other appropriate way. It will then be for the Governing Body, atan early session, to draw conclusions from this discussion concerningthe priorities and plans of action for technical cooperation to be imple-mented for the following four-year period.

IV. It is understood that:1. Proposals shall be made for amendments to the Standing Orders of the

Governing Body and the Conference which are required to implementthe preceding provisions.

2. The Conference shall, in due course, review the operation of this fol-low-up in the light of the experience acquired to assess whether it hasadequately fulfilled the overall purpose articulated in Part I.The foregoing is the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles andRights at Work and its Follow-up duly adopted by the General Confer-ence of the International Labour Organization during its Eighty-sixthSession which was held at Geneva and declared closed the 18 June1998.IN FAITH WHEREOF we have appended our signatures this nine-teenth day of June 1998.

The President of the Conference,

JEAN-JACQUES OESCHSLIN

The Director-General of the International Labour Office.

MICHEL HANSENNE


Annex 2


Annex 3

Table of ratifications of ILO Conventions Nos. 29and 105 and annual reports submitted under the Declaration follow-up in relation to eliminationof all forms of forced or compulsory labour

No. 29 – Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (156 ratifications by 1 March2001)

No. 105 – Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (153 ratificationsby 1 March 2001)

Explanation of symbols in the table

R Convention ratified by 1 March 2001

– Convention not ratified by 1 March 2001

yes Report received

no Report not received

n/a Not applicable

Member States Ratifications

C. 29 C. 105

First annual report onthe elimination of forcedlabour submitted underthe Declaration

Subsequent annual report under the Declaration

Afghanistan — R no noAlbania R R n/a n/aAlgeria R R n/a n/aAngola R R n/a n/aAntigua and Barbuda R R n/a n/aArgentina R R n/a n/aArmenia — — no noAustralia R R n/a n/aAustria R R n/a n/aAzerbaijan R R yes n/a


Bahamas R R n/a n/aBahrain R R n/a n/aBangladesh R R n/a n/aBarbados R R n/a n/aBelarus R R n/a n/aBelgium R R n/a n/aBelize R R n/a n/aBenin R R n/a n/aBolivia — R yes —Bosnia and Herzegovina R R yes n/aBotswana R R n/a n/aBrazil R R n/a n/aBulgaria R R n/a n/aBurkina Faso R R n/a n/aBurundi R R n/a n/aCambodia R R n/a n/a

Cameroon R R n/a n/a

Canada — R yes yes

Cape Verde R R n/a n/a

Central African Republic R R n/a n/a

Chad R R n/a n/a

Chile R R n/a n/a

China — — yes yes

Colombia R R n/a n/a

Comoros R R n/a n/a

Congo R R n/a n/a

Costa Rica R R n/a n/a

Côte d’Ivoire R R n/a n/a

Croatia R R n/a n/a

Cuba R R n/a n/a

Cyprus R R n/a n/aCzech Republic R R n/a n/aDemocratic Republicof the Congo R — yes yes

Denmark R R n/a n/aDjibouti R R n/a n/aDominica R R n/a n/aDominican Republic R R n/a n/aEcuador R R n/a n/aEgypt R R n/a n/aEl Salvador R R n/a n/aEquatorial Guinea — — no noEritrea R R yes n/aEstonia R R n/a n/aEthiopia — R yes yesFiji R R n/a n/a


C. 29 C. 105




Finland R R n/a n/aFrance R R n/a n/aGabon R R n/a n/aGambia — — yes yesGeorgia R R n/a n/aGermany R R n/a n/aGhana R R n/a n/aGreece R R n/a n/aGrenada R R n/a n/aGuatemala R R n/a n/aGuinea R R n/a n/aGuinea-Bissau R R n/a n/aGuyana R R n/a n/aHaiti R R n/a n/aHonduras R R n/a n/aHungary R R n/a n/aIceland R R n/a n/aIndia R R yes n/aIndonesia R R n/a n/aIran, Islamic Republic of R R n/a n/aIraq R R yes n/aIreland R R n/a n/aIsrael R R n/a n/aItaly R R n/a n/aJamaica R R n/a n/aJapan R — yes yesJordan R R n/a n/aKazakhstan — — yes noKenya R R n/a n/aKiribati — — n/a noKorea, Republic of — — yes yesKuwait R R n/a n/aKyrgyzstan R R n/a n/aLao People’s DemocraticRepublic R — no no

Latvia — R yes noLebanon R R n/a n/aLesotho R — no yesLiberia R R n/a n/aLibyan Arab Jamahiriya R R n/a n/aLithuania R R n/a n/aLuxembourg R R n/a n/aMadagascar R — no yesMalawi R R n/a n/aMalaysia R — no yesMali R R n/a n/aMalta R R n/a n/aMauritania R R n/a n/aMauritius R R n/a n/aMexico R R n/a n/a


C. 29 C. 105




Moldova, Republic of R R no n/aMongolia — — no noMorocco R R n/a n/aMozambique — R yes yesMyanmar R — no noNamibia R R yes yesNepal — — yes yesNetherlands R R n/a n/aNew Zealand R R n/a n/aNicaragua R R n/a n/aNiger R R n/a n/aNigeria R R n/a n/aNorway R R n/a n/aOman R — no noPakistan R R n/a n/aPanama R R n/a n/aPapua New Guinea R R n/a n/aParaguay R R n/a n/aPeru R R n/a n/aPhilippines — R yes yesPoland R R n/a n/aPortugal R R n/a n/aQatar R — yes yesRomania R R n/a n/aRussian Federation R R n/a n/aRwanda — R no noSaint Kitts and Nevis R R no yesSaint Lucia R R n/a n/aSaint Vincent and the Grenadines R R n/a n/a

San Marino R R n/a n/aSao Tome and Principe — — no noSaudi Arabia R R n/a n/aSenegal R R n/a n/aSeychelles R R n/a n/aSierra Leone R R n/a n/aSingapore R — no yesSlovakia R R n/a n/aSlovenia R R n/a n/aSolomon Islands R — no noSomalia R R n/a n/aSouth Africa R R n/a n/aSpain R R n/a n/aSri Lanka R — yes yesSudan R R n/a n/aSuriname R R n/a n/aSwaziland R R n/a n/aSweden R R n/a n/aSwitzerland R R n/a n/aSyrian Arab Republic R R n/a n/a


C. 29 C. 105




* Under United Nations resolutions applicable at the time, no reports were requested. The Govern-ment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has not yet notified the ILO as to whether it wishes tocontinue to be bound by the obligations under Conventions ratified by the former Socialist FederalRepublic of Yugoslavia.

Tajikistan R R n/a n/aTanzania, United Republic of R R n/a n/aThailand R R n/a n/aThe former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia R — no noTogo R R n/a n/aTrinidad and Tobago R R n/a n/aTunisia R R n/a n/aTurkey R R n/a n/aTurkmenistan R R n/a n/aUganda R R n/a n/aUkraine R R yes yesUnited Arab Emirates R R n/a n/aUnited Kingdom R R n/a n/aUnited States — R yes yesUruguay R R n/a n/aUzbekistan R R n/a n/aVenezuela R R n/a n/aViet Nam — — yes yesYemen R R n/a n/aYugoslavia R — no* no*Zambia R R n/a n/aZimbabwe R R n/a n/a


C. 29 C. 105




Annex 4

International instruments relevantto forced labour

A. ILO instrumentsIn addition to the two main ILO instruments dealing with forced labour as theirprincipal subject — the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Ab-olition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) — the Organization hasat its disposal other normative tools that can help inspire action for the elimina-tion of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.1 Without attempting to be ex-haustive or detailed, this Annex points out the range of instruments that mightserve as a source for policy guidance or, in the event of a member State havingratified a Convention, create obligations relevant to the prevention of forced la-bour.2 The follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles andRights at Work does not by any means imply the obligations detailed in theConventions mentioned in this Annex, but these instruments can provide usefulguidance for pursuit of an active policy to eliminate all forms of forced or com-pulsory labour.

First of all, there are the three other categories of fundamental principles andrights encompassed by the ILO Declaration, i.e. those regarding freedom of as-sociation and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; theelimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation; andthe effective abolition of child labour.3 The four categories covered by the Dec-laration involve mutually reinforcing principles and rights. In addition, provi-sions of Conventions on topics as diverse as those concerning indigenouspeoples, migrant workers, recruitment practices, protection of wages and socialdialogue can underpin certain forms of action to prevent or combat forced orcompulsory labour. Conventions designated as priority instruments for the

1 The full text of ILO Conventions and Recommendations adopted since 1919 and information onratifications is available through the ILO website (http://www.ilo.org), on CD-ROM (ILOLEX) andin printed form. 2 In the case of ratified Conventions, member States enter into obligations and are required to reportregularly on the effect given to the provisions of the Conventions. An extensive supervisorymachinery is in place to follow up on the application of ratified Conventions. For further informa-tion, consult the ILO website.


ILO, i.e. those relating to employment policy, labour inspection and tripartiteconsultation,4 involve institutional support for sound labour practices that mayalso contribute to preventing or eliminating forced labour.

ILO forced labour Conventions

Under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), the term forced or compul-sory labour means “all work or service which is exacted from any person underthe menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himselfvoluntarily”. For the purposes of the Convention, there are certain exclusions,however.5 Moreover, Convention No. 29 specifically prohibits certain forms offorced or compulsory labour, such as forced or compulsory labour for the ben-efit of private individuals, companies or associations; and forced or compulsorylabour as a punishment for crimes if it is applied to an entire community.

Under Convention No. 29, Members undertake to suppress the use of forced orcompulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period. Duringthe transitional period, now past, recourse could only be had to forced labourfor public purposes and as an exceptional measure, subject to certain guaran-tees.6

The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), supplementsrather than revises the earlier instrument. Convention No. 105 calls for the im-mediate and complete abolition of any form of forced or compulsory labour infive specified cases: (a) as a means of political coercion or education or as a pun-ishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposedto the established political, social or economic system; (b) as a method of mobi-lizing and using labour for the purposes of economic development; (c) as ameans of labour discipline; (d) as a punishment for having participated instrikes; and (e) as a means of racial, social, national or religious discrimination.

Other ILO Conventions of particular relevance to preventingforced labour

Several other ILO instruments address issues of forced labour, either directly orindirectly. Under the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), Mem-bers are to formulate and apply an active policy aimed at promoting full, pro-ductive and freely chosen employment. By looking at the other side of the coin,from the perspective of freedom of labour, the instrument places emphasis onthe positive labour market interventions and other measures that can help toeradicate coercive systems of work.

3 In addition to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Abolition of Forced LabourConvention, 1957 (No. 105), the Conventions considered fundamental for purposes of the follow-up to the Declaration are: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Conven-tion, 1948 (No.87); Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98); EqualRemuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100); Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Conven-tion, 1958 (No. 111); Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138); and Worst Forms of Child LabourConvention, 1999 (No. 182). Furthermore, there are ILO instruments relating to these topics, suchas the Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11).4 Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122); Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81);Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129); and Tripartite Consultation (Interna-tional Labour Standards) Convention, 1974 (No. 144).5 For purposes of the Convention, the term “forced or compulsory labour” does not include the fivecategories of work which are detailed in footnote 2, Part I of this Report.6 See ILO: Abolition of Forced Labour, General Survey by the Committee of Experts on the Appli-cation of Conventions and Recommendations, International Labour Conference, 65th Session, Ge-neva, 1979.


ILO instruments on indigenous and tribal peoples have emphasized the need toconfront the particular problems of forced and compulsory labour experiencedby those groups. The most recent of these is the Indigenous and Tribal PeoplesConvention, 1989 (No. 169). Under this instrument, the exaction of compulsorypersonal services in any form, whether paid or unpaid, is to be prohibited andpunishable by law, except in cases permitted for all citizens under the excep-tions to Convention No. 29. Convention No. 169 further provides that meas-ures to prevent any discrimination against indigenous and tribal peoples shouldinclude measures to ensure that workers belonging to these peoples are not sub-jected to coercive recruitment systems, including bonded labour and otherforms of debt servitude. An earlier instrument, the Indigenous and Tribal Pop-ulations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), now revised by Convention No. 169, setsout the basic standards for special measures of protection for these peoples withregard to recruitment and conditions of employment, as well as land and otherbasic rights.

In relation to persons crossing borders for employment purposes, the Migrationfor Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) aims at assisting migrantsfor employment, in particular through provision of free placement services, in-formation and various other support services. In particular, it calls for actionagainst misleading propaganda regarding emigration or immigration, which of-ten plays a role in trafficking related to forced labour. The Migrant Workers(Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143), requires the adoptionof all necessary and appropriate measures, within a State’s jurisdiction and incollaboration with other member States, to suppress clandestine movements ofmigrants for employment and illegal employment of migrants, and to take ac-tion against those involved in the abuses identified by the Convention. Whilethese instruments provide considerable protection for migrants who may be atrisk of falling into situations of forced labour, their revision has been suggestedwith a view to filling gaps in coverage and permitting broader ratification.7

The International Labour Conference has adopted a number of instrumentsdesigned to provide workers with terms and conditions of employment thatwould contribute to preventing situations of forced labour from emerging. Themost directly relevant of these is the Protection of Wages Convention, 1949(No. 95), which contains several measures aimed at protecting workers in rela-tion to how they are paid (with limits on payment in kind instead of legal ten-der), where they are paid (e.g. not in taverns), and how they are to be informedabout their earnings. The Convention also places safeguards on permissible de-ductions from wages and measures to avoid exploitation of workers throughcompany stores. Based on the central idea that employers are prohibited fromlimiting in any manner the freedom of the worker to dispose of his or her wages,the instrument addresses many of the practical dilemmas in which persons sub-jected to forced labour find themselves.

In adopting the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1998 (No. 181), theInternational Labour Conference recalled the provisions of the Forced LabourConvention (No. 29) in its preamble. The new Convention recognizes the roleof private employment agencies in the labour market and includes a number ofprotections against abuse for workers who use their services. It refers specificallyto the need for laws and regulations which provide for penalties, including pro-hibition of private employment agencies which engage in fraudulent practicesand abuses in relation to migrant workers and encouragement of bilateralagreements between countries. Adequate machinery and procedures are also to

7 ILO: Migrant workers, International Labour Conference, 87th Session, Geneva, 1999, Report of theCommittee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Report III(Part 1B), para. 667.


be established to investigate complaints, alleged abuses and fraudulent practicesof private employment agencies.

Furthermore, the range of ILO instruments designed to strengthen the capacityof workers and employers to form organizations to defend their interests andengage in social dialogue also have the effect of strengthening participation andthereby the ability to resist falling into forced labour situations. A prime exam-ple is the Rural Workers’ Organizations Convention, 1975 (No. 141), whichcalls upon ratifying States to pursue a policy of active encouragement to theseorganizations. It also aims to facilitate the establishment and growth of strongand independent organizations, on a voluntary basis, as an effective means toensure the participation of rural workers in economic and social developmentand in the benefits resulting from it.

Finally, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), refersto slavery and slavery-like practices. For the purposes of this Convention, theterm “the worst forms of child labour” refers inter alia to “all forms of slaveryor practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debtbondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced orcompulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict”. States are to takeimmediate and effective measures (including a programme of action and en-forcement measures) to prohibit and eliminate trafficking in girls and boys un-der 18 years of age. Convention No. 182 contains a number of other provisionsdesigned to prevent conditions conducive to trafficking. This Convention hasbroken all speed records for ratification (62 ratifications between its adoption inJune 1999 and 1 March 2001).

B. United Nations instrumentsThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that, “All human be-ings are born free and equal in dignity and rights ...” (Art. 1). “No one shall beheld in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in alltheir forms” (Art. 4).

The first international definition of slavery is found in the League of NationsSlavery Convention of 1926, which defines slavery as the status or condition ofa person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownershipare exercised (Art. 1(1)). The 1926 Convention also prohibits all aspects of theslave trade, including all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal ofa person with intent to reduce him or her to slavery (Art.1(2)). Contracting Par-ties are also required to take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory orforced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery (Art. 5).

Slavery-like conditions are defined in a United Nations instrument adopted in1956, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the SlaveTrade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. This instrument callson all States Parties to abolish progressively, and as soon as possible, such prac-tices as debt bondage and serfdom. Debt bondage is defined as “the status orcondition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of thoseof a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those servicesas reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or thelength and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined”(Art. 1(a)). Serfdom is defined as “the condition or status of a tenant who is bylaw, custom or agreement bound to live and labour on land belonging to an-other person and to render some determinate service to such other person,whether for reward or not, and is not free to change his status” (Art. 1(b)).

Of the United Nations instruments, forced and compulsory labour are ad-dressed in most detail in the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1966. This instrument prohibits


slavery, the slave trade and servitude in all its forms. The Covenant providesgenerally that “No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory la-bour” (Art. 8(3)(a)). While the terms are not otherwise defined, the United Na-tions Covenant lists the services that will not be considered as forced orcompulsory labour for its purposes. These include: the performance of hard la-bour in pursuance of a sentence to such a punishment by a competent court(Art. 8(3)(b)); any other work or service normally required of a person under de-tention in consequence of a lawful court order (Art. 8(3)(c)(i)); any service of amilitary character, or national service required by law of conscientious objec-tors (Art. 8(3)(c)(ii)); any service exacted in cases of emergency or calamitythreatening the life or well-being of the community (Art. 8(3)(c)(iii)); and anywork or service which forms part of normal civic obligations (Art. 8(3)(c)(iv)).

While trafficking in persons has received considerable attention of late, the termwas not until very recently defined in United Nations instruments, although thesubject was addressed at the beginning of the past century with the treaty tocombat the so-called white slave traffic, and later updated in 1949.8 In Novem-ber 2000, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime, supplemented by the Protocol to Pre-vent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Chil-dren. The Convention lays down a number of provisions to fight organizedcrime, including mutual legal assistance between States, training and technicalassistance. For the purposes of the Protocol, “trafficking in persons” shall mean,“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, bymeans of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, offraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or ofthe giving or receiving of payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a personhaving control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploita-tion shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of othersor other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or prac-tices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Art. 3(a)).

Finally, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in1989 and almost universally ratified, includes the right of the child to be pro-tected from economic exploitation and from performing work which, inter alia,would be harmful to his or her health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral orsocial development (Art. 32). Another provision calls on countries to take meas-ures to prevent the abduction or sale of, and the trafficking in, children for anypurpose or in any form (Art. 35). While these provisions are of direct relevanceto the elimination of forced labour, respect for other articles of this Conventionwould also help set a framework in which it would be much more difficult forforced labour involving children to emerge.

8 International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, signed in Paris on 4 May1910, and amended by the Protocol signed in Lake Success, New York, 4 May 1949.

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